In a daring raid, committed during broad day light, radicals belonging to the outlawed Jam'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) snatched away three of their comrades at Trishal Upazila on Sunday as they were being transported in a prison van from Kashimpur jail to a court in Mymensingh.
Published : 23 Feb 2014, 11:02 AM
Police constable Atiqul Islam, 30, who was believed to be the van’s driver, was killed when the JMB men attacked the van with bombs and guns before barricading it with their own vehicle.
Sub-Inspectors Habibur Rahman, 45 and Soheil Rana, 30, were injured in the attack and are being treated at the Mymensingh Medical College Hospital.
The freed militants have been identified as Jahidul Islam alias Boma Mizan, 38, Salauddin Salehin Alias Sunny, 38, and Hafez Mahmud alias Raqib Hasan, 35.
Of them, Salauddin and Raqib were on death row and Jahidul was serving life sentence for their involvement in the widespread bomb attack across Bangladesh in 2005.
Police said the attackers used a vehicle to block the prison van in the Signboard area of Trishal around 10am.
As the van stopped, the attackers opened fire and lobbed bombs at the policemen sitting in the front.
Senior police officials have rushed to the spot.
The three JMB radicals were scheduled to appear before a court in Mymensingh in connection with the bombing of a cinema hall there in 2002, said Abdur Razzaq, Superintendent of the Kashimpur Jail.
A massive manhunt is underway for their capture and authorities have declared a bounty of Tk 200,000 for each of them.
Minister of State for Home Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal told reporters, “I know that one of our policemen was killed and two more were injured.”
Inspector General of Police Hassan Mahmood Khandker described Sunday's raid as 'unexpected'.
“This shows militants are still active in the country,” he said, adding, “But the situation is under our control now.”
High alert has been issued in prisons across the country, where convicted or under-trial Islamist radicals are lodged.
The JMB came to the limelight after it launched massive bomb attacks during the tenure of the 2001-6 BNP-Jamaat coalition government.
According to a report published by the US-based International Crisis Group (ICG), JMB gained strength after it was extensively used by the law enforcement agencies to neutralise left-wing radicals like the Sarbahara party and Red Flag communists in the western and south-western districts of Bangladesh between 2001-2006.
Only after the serial bombings on Aug 17, 2005 did the then government cracked down on the JMB after much outcry at domestic and global levels.
Who are they?
Jahidul Islam Shumon or Boma Mizan, from Jamalpur Sadar, is a lifer accused in 19 cases and awarded sentence in five.
RAB arrested this most-wanted JMB explosives expert in 2009.
He is said to have received training in bomb-making from Nasrullah and Mollah Omar of JMB after he was drafted into the group for his background in violent student politics.
Mizan was sentenced to 26 years of rigorous imprisonment along with three other JMB militants for their involvement in a bomb attack on the court of the then Chittagong Metropolitan Magistrate Akram Hossain in Oct, 2005.
Narayanganj’s Salauddin Salehin, a death row convict in three cases of the 40 cases in which he is accused.
He is an executive or ‘Shura’ member of the JMB group.
Hafez Mahmud alias Raqib Hasan, 35, also faces death sentence in three cases of the 19 he has been accused of.