So-called militants Shehzad, Tawsif still in Bangladesh

Two of the so-called militants listed by the government, Shehzad Rauf Arka and Tawsif Hossain, are in Bangladesh, intelligence agents suspect.

Both Shehzad and Tawsif feature on the second list of over 260 people who had ‘gone missing’ and possibly joined militants.

A highly placed source in the government has told bdnews24.com that intelligence agents, after trying to trace the two youths through their passport numbers, suspect they have not left the country yet.

Officers investigating cases related to militants also suspect they had been with the dead attackers, North South University students Nibras Islam and Abir Rahman, in Jhenaidah.

Nibras, who had been in Malaysia to study at Monash University, was killed towards the end of the Gulshan cafe siege on July 1.

Abir was gunned down during an attack on Eid day in Sholakia on July 7.

The investigators say all those who had been in the rented house in Jhenaidah were involved in the two terror attacks and are still in the country.

No police officer was eager to speak about the matter.

Dhaka metro police chief Asaduzzaman Mia on Sunday said the masterminds of the cafe attack had been identified and their arrest was ‘only a matter of time now’.

There had been six others with Nibras and Abir in Jhenaidah.

The eight youths left the house by the end of June, the landlord said.

Abir rented two rooms in Sholakia days before the attack, saying four persons would stay in the rooms.

The security forces have recently raided remote shoals in Bogra, suspecting the Gulshan and Sholakia attackers might have undertaken training in camps there.

The intelligence agents suspect Shehzad and Tawsif had been in the shoal in Bogra.

Shehzad, from Dhaka’s Baridhara, studied in Monash University with Nibras, who reportedly left home on Feb 3, the same day Shehzad and Tawsif went ‘missing’.

Tawsif, son of ‘Azmal’, a doctor, lived in Dhanmondi.

The Middle East-based radical group Islamic State has claimed credit for the Gulshan attack. The government and security forces denied the claim, blaming home-grown militants for the carnage.

Tawsif’s cousin Ahmed Shammur Rayan had been arrested for his alleged links to IS.

He was freed on bail and is now staying in his house in Moghbazar.

His father has denied his son’s link to militants.