Police accuse 9 JMB men of 2015 Shia mosque attack

Police have pressed charges against nine JMB operatives for opening fire on devotees at a ‘Shia’ mosque in Bogra’s Shibganj.

On Nov 26, 2015, JMB men barged into ‘Masjid-e-Al-Mustafa’ at Chokkanu village during the Maghrib prayers and opened fire leaving one dead and three injured.

Md Moazzem Hossain, 68, died and Imam of the mosque Shahinur Rahman, 35, Abu Taher, 55 and Aftab Ali, 45 sustained bullet wounds.

Later one Shona Mia of the village started the case at Shibganj Police Station against unidentified people.

Police submitted the formal charges on Jan 18 maintaining confidentiality and informed the matter to reporters on Tuesday.

Shibganj police OC Kamruzzaman Mia said police submitted the chargesheet to Senior Judicial Magistrate Court-2 in Bogra after collecting necessary evidence on the assault and murder. The court will hear the charges on Mar 8.

Police confirmed the nine as ‘Shia haters’ after interrogating 57 people, he said.

"They have been chargesheeted for their direct and indirect involvement in the attack."

The accused are Emdadul Huq, Abdul Bached, Abdul Hamid alias Hamidul, Abdul Momin Mondol, Rajibul Islam alias Badal, Khademul Islam, Ajad Pramanik, Ajadul Kobiraj alias Biplob and Yasin Ali.

Emdadul, Bached, Hamid and Yasin are behind the bars while the rest were on the run, said OC Kamruzzaman.

The officer added that initially police prosecuted 13 men over the attack.

Four of them – ‘Kaochar,’ Anwar Hossain, ‘Osman’ and ‘Rana’ – died in shootout with police.