Bangladesh militants not capable of attacks like 2005 series bombings, counterterror police chief says

JMB militants could carry out simultaneous bomb attacks throughout Bangladesh 12 years making the most of ill-equipped security agencies, police's Counterterrorism and Transnational Crimes unit chief Monirul Islam has said.

Senior CorrespondentKamal Hossain Talukder, bdnews24.com
Published : 17 August 2017, 04:08 PM
Updated : 17 August 2017, 04:08 PM

The police officer, involved in countering militancy for a long time, also believes the militants do not have the capability now to repeat such acts or terror.

According to him, the revived edition of Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh or Neo-JMB is the active militant group now, but they are split into many factions due to distrust and disputes among themselves.

"They try to get active at different times. But they don't have the capacity to carry out any big attack now," Monirul said.

The CTTC chief spoke to bdnews24.com and some other media on Aug 14, three days before the 12th anniversary of the simultaneous bombings by JMB militants at over 500 points in 63 districts, spreading panic.

Many more terror attacks took place in the country after the series bombings, in which freethinking bloggers, writers, professors and people with different religious views were targets.

The killings of 22 people, including 17 foreigners and two police officers, in the attack on a cafe in the capital's Gulshan on July 1 last year shook the nation.

The law enforcers strengthened the crackdown on militants after the Gulshan eatery attack and many of the top leaders of terrorists were later killed in anti-terror operations.

Monirul has been heading the CTTC since it was formed in May last year amid the rise in the number of machete attacks by suspected Islamist militants.

He said, "It can be said that we lacked capacity earlier. Because there was no dedicated unit to work against terrorism."

According to the Police Headquarters, a total of 1,106 people were accused in 159 cases over the 2005 series bombings.

Among the accused, persons 27 have been sentenced to death in judgments on 93 cases while 320 have been handed down various jail terms.

Six of the convicts have been hanged while seven died in jail.

The next militant strike after the series bombings on Aug 17, 2005 came on Nov 14 the same year. Two judges were killed in that attack.

Assailants Iftekhar Hossain Mamun and top JMB leaders Shaykh Abdur Rahman, his brother Ataur Rahman Sunny and son-in-law Abdul Awal, Siddiqul Islam alias Bangla Bhai, Khaled Saifullah alias Faruq, and the group's member Asadul Islam Arif were sentenced to death for killing the judges.

Six of them were executed in March, 2007, while Arif was hanged in October last year.

The law enforcers have blamed the JMB's reincarnation Neo-JMB for the Gulshan cafe carnage and the attack on law enforcers in Kishoreganj's Sholakia only a week later.

Speaking about the geopolitical background of the militant group's birth, Monirul said it was first formed in December, 1998 similar to Afghanistan-based al-Qaeda.

"Terrorism is the byproduct of ill-motivated politics by two superpowers in their bid to increase control. Al-Qaeda was formed in 1988. And following that group, Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami was born in 1992. Later the JMB was formed," he said.

The senior police officer said the law enforcers drew a conclusion on the births of these groups by analysing information received from those arrested over the series bombings by the JMB.

Hasan Mahmud Khandaker, who was heading the Rapid Action Battalion when the six top JMB leaders were hanged in 2007, told bdnews24.com, "It has been possible to break the JMB's organisational structure due to the execution of the court verdicts.

"But the members of this organisation are trying to regroup. It cannot be said whether they will hit again," he added.

After the hanging of the top leaders, the JMB was reformed under the leadership of former Jamaat-e-Islami leader Maulana Saidur Rahman. Police arrested Saidur and two others in May, 2010.

Monirul said, "The JMB's first chapter was closed with the hanging of their leaders. The second chapter was also closed when Maulana Saidur was arrested."

"But the JMB tried to regroup in different times. We were active against them, but they could not be tamed fully as their ideal relates to religion," he added.

According to the counterterrorism police chief, the misinterpretations of religions still inspire militancy and that is how Neo-JMB came into being.

[Additional reporting by Senior Correspondent Sumon Mahbub]