Jamatul Ansar members left hill tracts on orders from their chief, RAB says

They tried to go into hiding in small groups or carry out a new mission, the law enforcers say after arresting four suspects

Members of Jamatul Ansar Fil Hindal Sharqiya left the Chattogram Hill Tracts for the plains in small groups on orders from their chief, Anisur Rahman Mahmud, to go into hiding or carry out a new mission, the Rapid Action Battalion has said.

The elite force presented the findings on the new Islamist militant group at a press conference in Chattogram on Wednesday after arresting four suspected members of the outfit near the Chattogram-Cox’s Bazar Highway’s bypass on Tuesday night.

The suspects are Hossain Ahmed, 22, Nihal Abdullah, 19, Al Amin, 22, and Al Amin alias Partha Kumar Das, 21.

Nihal was among the eight youths who were reported missing by their families in Cumilla in August 2022. The investigation to trace them unearthed the existence of the new militant group.

Partha joined militancy after converting to Islam in 2018, the RAB said.

RAB spokesman Khandaker Al Moin said the force arrested the four at a checkpost as the suspects were travelling to Chattogram by an autorickshaw. Four to five others in another autorickshaw fled the checkpost, he said.

“The militants dispersed due to the joint operation by the RAB and the army on the hill tracts. On orders from their chief, they started to hide in small groups in the plains. We had information that one of the groups was coming to Chattogram to hide or carry out a new mission.”

Besides 59 militant suspects, the RAB arrested 17 alleged members of the Kuki-Chin National Front, or the Bawm Party, a tribal separatist group that sheltered Jamatul Ansar members in the hill tracts for training, according to Moin.