JMB was planning another Gulshan cafe style attack, Indian police say

The Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) has been planning to carry out another attack similar to the one on the Gulshan cafe in July, if one of its commanders is executed, reports Indian media

News Deskbdnews24.com
Published : 28 Sept 2016, 06:12 AM
Updated : 28 Sept 2016, 07:50 AM

Quoting officers of West Bengal Police, the 'The Telegraph' said the information was sourced from the six suspected JMB activists arrested in West Bengal and Assam over the past few days.

Asadul Islam Arif, a JMB commander who had plotted a blast that killed two judges in Jhalakathi district of Bangladesh in 2005, has been sentenced to death.

The Bangladesh Supreme Court rejected his review petition this August, making the execution almost certain.

"Arif is a top JMB commander who has a death sentence pending against him. The banned terror outfit has been planning to carry out an attack similar to the one on the Holey Artisan Bakery at Gulshan within a week of his execution," the report quoted a senior West Bengal home department official saying.

Sources said Anwar Hossain Faruq, one of the six suspected JMB members who was arrested from North 24-Parganas, had told interrogators that his counterparts in Bangladesh had contacted a top leader of the outfit in India, Salauddin, and asked him to arrange for explosives that could be used for the attack that is being allegedly planned.

"It seems the JMB's plan is to create a big impact through the attack to avenge Arif's execution," the report quoted another police officer.

None of the officers have been named in the Telegraph report.

Sources in the Bangladesh establishment said Arif's execution was a matter of time as the Sheikh Hasina government had pledged zero tolerance on terror activities, says the report.

The JMB triggered serial blasts at over 600 locations in 63 districts in Bangladesh in 2005 soon after the government banned the outfit.

"The Hasina government has been cracking down on the JMB. Many of its senior operatives have escaped to Indian border states to regroup, plan and execute attacks in Bangladesh," the report quoted the home department official saying.

Another official said officers of Bangladesh's counter-terrorism wing had been alerted about the alleged attack plan, says the Telegraph report.