Harkat-ul-Jihad-al Islami Bangladesh
(HuJI-B)
Terrorist Group, Bangladesh
Formation
The Harkat-ul-Jihad-al
Islami Bangladesh (HuJI-B) was established in 1992, reportedly with
assistance from Osama bin Laden’s International Islamic Front (IIF).
On April 30, 1992, several of the HuJI-B leaders addressed a press conference
at the Jatiya Press Club in capital Dhaka and demanded that Bangladesh
be converted into an Islamic State.
The outfit’s activities,
however, were noticed in June 1996 after the Awami League (AL) came
to power.
The HuJI-B was proscribed
by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP)-led coalition Government on
October 17, 2005.
Leadership
The HuJI-B is led by Shawkat
Osman alias Sheikh Farid. Imtiaz Quddus is the general secretary of
the outfit. The outfit's operations commander, Mufti Abdul Hannan was
arrested in Dhaka on October 1, 2005.
Objectives and
Ideology
HuJI-B aims to establish
Islamic Hukumat (rule) in Bangladesh by waging war and killing
progressive intellectuals. It draws inspiration from bin Laden and the
erstwhile Taliban regime of Afghanistan. At one point of time, the groups
issued a slogan, Amra Sobai Hobo Taliban, Bangla Hobe Afghanistan
(We will all become Taliban and we will turn Bangladesh into Afghanistan).
HuJI-B recruits are indoctrinated in the mould of radical Islam.
Areas of Activity
and Influence
The coastal area stretching
from the port city of Chittagong south through Cox's Bazaar to the Myanmarese
border, notorious for piracy, smuggling and arms running, is the principal
area of activity of the HuJI-B.
The group reportedly maintains
six camps in the hilly areas of Chittagong, where its cadres are trained
in the use of weapons. Unconfirmed reports also indicate that it maintains
six training camps near Cox's Bazaar.
The HuJI-B cadres allegedly
also infiltrate frequently into the eastern corridor of India to maintain
contacts with terrorist and subversive outfits of the region. HuJI-B
has been found to be responsible for a number of terorist attacks orchatrsted
in Indian urban centres in recent years.
Cadres
Although there is no authoritative
information on the actual cadre strength, most reports mention it to
be around 15,000. Several of these recruits were trained in the Kormi
and Kasia areas of Bangladesh. Further, many hundred recruits were reportedly
trained at various training camps in Afghanistan, primarily during the
reign of the Taliban.
Both local residents and
foreigners are recruited into the HuJI-B. Besides, refugees from Myanmar
are a significant source of cadres for the outfit. They include stateless
Rohingyas, whose families have fled Myanmar over the years allegedly
due to religious persecution. Cadres of the HuJIB are primarily recruited
from various Madrassas (seminaries). The Madrassas essentially
impart religious training and most of them are financed by Arab charities.
Reports also indicate that many HuJI-B recruits have seen ‘action’ in
the Indian State of Jammu and Kashmir, Chechnya and Afghanistan.
Linkages
The HuJI-B had reportedly
been formed drawing inspiration from Osama bin Laden and continues to
maintain active links with the Al Qaeda network and remnants of the
Taliban militia.
A large number of volunteers
had gone to Afghanistan to fight alongside the Mujahideen in
the war against the former Soviet Union. A large number of these Mujahideen
returned to Bangladesh during the BNP regime of Begum Khaleda Zia
(1991-96) and are now spearheading the fundamentalist movement in the
country.
The HuJI-B is also believed
to be having links with Pakistan. For instance, the outfit’s ‘operations
commander’ and a key suspect in the plot to assassinate the then Prime
Minister, Sheikh Hasina, in July 2000, Mufti Abdul Hannan, after his
arrest in October 2005 admitted to have passed out of the Gouhardanga
Madrassa in Pakistan. Police records in Gopalganj district also
says that Hannan was trained in the Pakistani city of Peshawar and then
sent to Afghanistan to fight the erstwhile Soviet Army. The HuJI-B’s
Pakistani link was further established with the recovery of a diary
from Hannan’s brother Matiur Rehman, who was also arrested in connection
with the assassination plot. Entries in the diary revealed that he was
in touch with Pakistan’s diplomatic mission in Bangladesh.
Reports indicate that agents
of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Pakistan’s external intelligence
agency, under the guise of HuJI-B cadres impart military training for
three months to youths of both Bangladesh and India from bases in the
Kurigram and Rangpur areas of Bangladesh, near the Coochbihar border.
Similar training camps reportedly also exist in Rangmari, Sundermari,
Masaldanga and in other villages, where training is imparted in the
use of sophisticated arms and setting off blasts. After training, the
youth infiltrate into India and spread to various locations in West
Bengal and States in the Northeast region, including Assam.
HuJI-B also maintain links
with terrorist groups operating in India’s Northeast, including with
the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA). The HuJI-B reportedly managed
some of ULFA’s camps situated in the Chittagong Hill Tracts in Bangladesh
along the border with the Indian State of Tripura.
The HuJI-B is also linked
to another Islamist extremist outfit, the Asif Reza Commando Force (ARCF)
that had claimed responsibility for the January 22, 2002-attack on the
American Center in Kolkata, the capital of West Bengal. The arrest of
Aftab Ansari alias Aftab Ahmed alias Farhan Malik, the prime accused
in the attack, led to further information on the linkages between the
Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) and the HuJI based in
Pakistan and Bangladesh. Ansari is reportedly linked to the ISI and
to JeM terrorist Omar Shiekh, convicted for the abduction and murder
of American journalist Daniel Pearl, in Pakistan. Ansari was reportedly
asked in August 2001 in Islamabad by Omar Sheikh to provide cover and
logistics support for terrorist operations from Bangladesh.
There have also been reports
that a 25-member team of Taliban operatives reached Bangladesh in June
2001 to train HuJI-B cadres.
In Bangladesh, the HuJI-B
is also known to have enjoyed the patronage of mainstream political
parties such as the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and the Jamaat-e-Islami.
HuJI-B ‘operations commander’ Mufti Hannan, subsequent to his arrest
on October 1, 2005 was reported to have confessed that the country’s
former home and the then commerce minister, Altaf Hossain Choudhury,
had assured him of protection and guaranteed his freedom following his
involvement in the assassination attempt of former Prime Minister Sheikh
Hasina in July 2000. The Jamaat-e-Islami, however, denies any links
with the HuJI and dismisses such reports as propaganda.
Finance
The HuJI-B reportedly receives
financial assistance from Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan through
Muslim Non-Governmental Organisations in Bangladesh, including the Adarsa
Kutir, Al Faruk Islamic Foundation and Hataddin. It is also suspected
to be generously financed by the ISI of Pakistan.
Activities
The HuJI-B intensified
its subversive activities after the Awami League formed the Government
in June 1996.
On February 19, 1996, 41
HuJI-B activists were arrested with firearms from Cox’s Bazaar. The
arrested cadres were sentenced to life imprisonment by a court, but
all of them were released on bail by the High Court after the four-party
alliance assumed power in October 2001.
Three HuJI-B cadres made
a failed attempt on the life of poet Shamsur Rahman at his residence
in Dhaka on January 18, 1999.
It was involved in a number
of incidents, including the killing of journalist Shamsur Rahman, on
July 16, 2000, in Jessore. Later, police arrested 10 HuJI-B activists
and sealed its office at a Dhaka suburb, Khilgaon, Interrogations revealed
that HuJI-B cadres had planned to kill 28 prominent intellectuals, including
National Professor Kabir Choudhury, writer Taslima Nasreen and the Director
General of the Islamic Foundation, Maulana Abdul Awal.
The HuJI-B has been accused
of plotting twice to assassinate the then Prime Minister and AL supremo,
Sheikh Hasina in July 2000. Security forces on July 20, 2000, during
routine security checks, recovered explosive devices weighing 76-kilograms
at or near the places she was scheduled to visit in her native Gopalganj
district, including near the venue of a public meeting she was slated
to address. The key suspect in the plot was Mufti Abdul Hannan. He had
allegedly been instrumental in the manufacture of the explosives at
a soap factory––Sonar Bangla Chemical Industries Limited––near Gopalganj.
Mufti Abdul Hannan, on November 1, 2007,
also confessed to have been instrumental in the grenade attack on the
August 21, 2004 AL rally in Dhaka.
Incidents
2012
May 27: Abu Hena Md Yusuf, inspector
of CID said that BNP Senior Vice Chairman Tarique Rahman assured HuJI
chief Mufti Abdul Hannan and his associates that he would arrange a
safe passage out of the scene once they carried out the grenade attack
on an AL rally in 2004. Twenty-four AL leaders and workers were killed
and 300 others were injured in the grenade attack on the AL rally at
Bangabandhu Avenue in the capital on August 21, 2004.
May 23: HuJI-B which operates largely
in Bihar, West Bengal and the north eastern states of India has been
conducting meetings to recruit women and train them in order to carry
out terror activities in India. The HuJI already has a lot of camps
in India. In addition to this it has a dedicated set of touts who help
ferry across their cadres between Bangladesh and India.
February 13: RAB arrested an alleged
operative of banned outfit HuJI from Pabahati village in Sadar sub-district
of Jhenidah District. The arrestee, Shaheen Mahmud (46) is a Khulna
regional leader of the outfit. The RAB members seized 20 books on jihad,
13 leaflets, a foreign ID card and a passport from his possession. The
arrestee was involved in serial bomb explosions on 21 August.
2011
December 13: Three former CID officials
and a HuJI-B leader, Shawkat Osman alias Sheikh Farid, appealed
to the Speedy Trial Tribunal-1 to discharge them from the August 21,
2004 Grenade Attack Case.
November 13: Arif Hasan Suman, leader
of banned militant outfit (HuJI-B), appealed to Speedy Trial Tribunal-1
to discharge him of the August 21, 2004 grenade attack cases.
October 30: Four more accused, including
Islamic Democratic Party Ameer Maulana Sheikh Abdus Salam, HuJI-B
leaders Mufti Mohibur Rahman alias Muhibullah, brother of HuJI-B Chief,
Abdul Hannan Sabbir and Maulana Yahiya, appealed to Speedy Trial Tribunal-1
to be discharged of the August 21, 2004 Grenade Attack cases.
October 23: HuJI-B leader Moulana Abu
Taher's counsel also appealed to the Speedy Trail Tribunal-1 to discharge
his client from the August 21, 2004 Grnade Attack Case charges.
October 17: The counsel of Lieutenant
Commander (retired) Saiful Islam Duke, nephew of BNP Chairperson Khaleda
Zia, appealed to a Speedy Trial Tribunal-1 to discharge his client from
the charges of 21 August, 2004 Grenade Attack Cases. Opposing the defence
plea, the prosecution said Duke helped HuJI-B leader Moulana Tajuddin,
brother of detained BNP leader Abdus Salam Pintu, flee from the country
after committing the offences.
October 13: A special tribunal in Brahmanbaria
District sentenced six militants of the banned Islamist outfit HuJI-B
to various terms of imprisonment in four separate cases. The convicts
were identified as Shamsul Islam Mollah, Musa Miah, Maulana Hedayetullah,
Saiful Islam Sajib alias Saifullah ,Jamal Miah and Mizanur Rahman.
They were arrested on April 13, 2008 in the District town along with
cocktails and bomb-making materials.
September 29: BNP has demanded that
the names of its senior vice-chairman Tarique Rahman and other opposition
leaders be dropped from the two cases filed over the August 21, 2004
grenade attack. The party said its detained leaders and activists "implicated"
in the cases must be released immediately, as HuJI-B 'chief' Mufti Abdul
Hannan, prime accused in the cases, stated that he doesn't know Tarique
or other BNP leaders.
September 27: HuJI-B 'chief' Abdul Hannan
submitted a petition for withdrawal of his confessional statement given
on April 7 this year saying that he was tortured to give it. But Judge
Shahed Nuruddin of the tribunal, however, did not pass any order on
the petition.
August 23: Mohammad Yahiya, the suspected
'chief' of the banned Islamist terror outfit, (HuJI-B) has made confession
in an anti-terrorism case. Judge Billal Hossain of the Second Judicial
Magistrate's Court recorded his statement in the case filed under the
Anti-Terrorism Act and ordered him to jail. Yahiya, arrested on August
18, is also accused in cases over the Aug 21, 2004 Grenade Attack on
an Awami League rally, Ramna Batamul blast in 2001 and planting a bomb
at a rally venue of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, then leader of the
opposition, in 2000.
August 22, 2011: August 21 supplementary
charge sheet reveals how grisly grenade attack was carried out with
the help of Administration, Directorate General of Forces Intelligence
(DGFI), National Security Intelligence (NSI), Police and then ruling
alliance leaders. Harkat-ul-Jihad-al Islami Bangladesh (HuJI-B) leaders
Julfikar Ali Manik and Chaitanya Chandra Halder met Tarique Rahman few
days before the August 21 Grenade Attack in 2004 and got the go-ahead
to stage the blasts.
August 18, 2011: Moulana Yahiya, the
newly appointed Ameer (Chief) of the banned militant outfit Harkat-ul-Jihad-al
Islami Bangladesh (HuJI-B),was arrested along with his two accomplices
at Bhairab in Kishoreganj District. Yahiya was wanted in August 21 grenade
attack, Ramna Batamul blasts and Kotalipara bomb planting cases.
August 11: Court of Metropolitan Sessions
Judge in Dhaka City gave an order to its administration to publish an
advertisement asking Tarique Rahman senior Vice-Chairman of BNP and
11 others to surrender before the court by August 25 in connection with
the August 21, 2004 grenade attack case. If the accused fail to surrender
by the deadline, trial against them will continue in their absence,
the court said. The order was passed under the Explosives Substances
Act. During yesterday's hearing, 31 accused, including Lutfozzaman Babar,
former State Minister for Home, Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed, Jamaat-e-Islami
(JeI) Secretary General, and (HuJI-B Chief Mufti Abdul Hannan, were
hauled before the Court. Another accused, Ariful Islam Arif, a ward
councillor of Dhaka City Corporation who is out on bail, was also present.
The Court also rejected bail petition of HuJI-B leader Sheikh Farid
and Abu Taher.
July 22: Indian security agencies believe
that the mastermind of the recent Mumbai blast (July 13, 2011), Abdullah
Khan of the Indian Mujahideen (IM) is hiding in Bangladesh. His movements
had been tracked over the past few months by the National Investigation
Agency. Khan is now operating the IM module which is assigned to maintain
liaison with the Bangladesh based Harkat-ul-Jihad-al Islami Bangladesh
(HuJI-B) and in a joint venture, has recruited a few new jihadists for
their outfit. Investigators said about six months ago, Khan was stationed
in Nepal and shuttled between Bangladesh and Pakistan. The IM had started
conducting training camps in Bangladesh.
July 21: A dossier obtained by central
intelligence agencies through joint efforts with international agencies
revealed that 50 Indian nationals of West Bengal, Maharashtra, Uttar
Pradesh, Assam, Karnataka and Bihar have received training at terror
camps in the Balochistan province of Pakistan. According to the dossier
majority of these individuals were from Assam and West Bengal, which,
in addition to Bihar are the new hubs for recruitment of terrorists.
Sources claimed that these men had fanned out across cities in India,
where they were masquerading as religious clerics, and recruiting fresh
faces into terrorism. In this regard, the name of a key link between
the Bangladeshi group Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami-Bangladesh (HuJI-B)
and members of Indian Mujahedeen (IM), identified as Jalaluddin Mullah
alias Babu Bhai, has caught the attention of teams investigating
the Mumbai serial blasts (13/7). Jalaluddin is a resident of South-24
Parganas District of West Bengal and is currently lodged in a prison
in Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh.
July 14: A Dhaka Court issued arrest
warrants against Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) Senior Vice-Chairman
Tarique Rahman and 11 others in the August 21, 2004 Grenade Attack Case
filed under the Explosive Substances Act. Police produced former State
Minister for Home Lutfozzaman Babar, Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) Secretary
General Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed, former BNP Deputy Minister Abdus
Salam Pintu, Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami Bangladesh (HuJI-B), chief Mufti
Abdul Hannan and 25 others before the Court.
July 3: A Bangladeshi Court issued arrest
warrants for the fugitive eldest son of former Bangladesh Prime Minister
Khaleda Zia, Tarique Rahman (46) and 17 others over August 21, 2004
Grenade Attack on an Awami League (AL) rally that killed 24 people and
injured some 300 people, including Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Moreover,
Criminal Investigation Department (CID) also formally charged Rahman,
the Senior Vice President of BNP, and 29 others of the attack after
an "extended investigation" into the case. The Special Superintendent
of CID, Abdul Kahhar Akhand said their re-investigations suggested that
operatives of militant Harkat-ul-Jihad-al Islami Bangladesh (HuJI-B)
carried out the attack, which was backed by former State Minister for
home Lutfuzzaman Babar, Khaleda Zia's Political Secretary Haris Chowdhury,
former minister and Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) leader Ali Ahsan Mujaheed
and incumbent BNP lawmaker fugitive Mofazzal Hossain Kaikobad.
The HuJI-B leaders and operatives named
in the charge-sheet included Maulana Sheikh Abdus Salam who later floated
a new outfit called Islamic Democratic Party (IDP), Maulana Abdul Malek,
Maulana Shawkat Osman alias Sheikh Farid and Mufti Shafiqur Rahman,
Ratul Babu and Indian national and Pakistan- based Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT)
leader Abdul Majed Bhat.
Further, the Metropolitan Public Prosecutor
Abdullah Abu said the grenades used in the attack came from Pakistan.
According to CID investigation, HuJI-B used grenades in several attacks
before and after the August 21 attack from a cache it was supposed to
transport to Jammu and Kashmir for LeT. The LeT high-ups in Pakistan
had sent the cache to Bangladesh to despatch it to their men in Kashmir
through Satkhira Border. The cache of 32 grenades, which the HuJI-B
received in Chittagong, rested in Bangladesh for a while before those
were used in different major attacks.
June 29: The Prime Minister has said
apart from banning five organisations for militant activities, the Government
is closely watching some other suspected organisations. She stated,
"that acts of militancy and terrorism will not be allowed on the soil
of the country". The five banned militant organisations are Shahadat-e-al-Hikma
Bangladesh, Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh [(JMJB), an Islamist vigilante
outfit that espouses the ideals of the Taliban], Jama'atul Mujahideen
Bangladesh (JMB), Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HuJI-B) and Hizb-ut-Tahrir
Bangladesh.
June 21: The Habiganj Court is expected
to indict a former influential junior minister in the 2005 murder of
former finance minister Shah AMS Kibria who was killed in a grenade
attack A Police Spokesman said, "We have submitted the supplementary
chargesheet as the re-investigations found 14 people, including (detained
former state minister) Lutfuzzaman Babar and (militant kingpin) militant
kingpin Mufti Hannan involved in the murder," CID officials said their
extended investigation into the case found 14 people, mostly operatives
of HuJI-B operatives, along with Babar to be involved in the murder.
Of the 14 accused, nine were already in jail to face the murder trial
as they were arrested in course of the probe while eight out of previous
10 accused too were in prisons.
June 20: Police have formally charged
14 more people, including ex-state minister for Home Lutfozzaman Babar
and HuJI-B leader Mufti Abdul Hannan, with the killing of Former Finance
Minister Shah AMS Kibria of AL in a grenade attack on January 27, 2005.
Police investigator submitted the supplementary charge sheet to the
court of Judicial Magistrate Rajib Kumar Biswas in Habiganj town after
an expanded probe into the 2005 killing that occurred in Kibria's home
District, Habiganj.
May 31: Khulna Divisional Speedy Trail
Tribunal has sentenced six militants of HuJI-B to rigorous imprisonment
in a case filed against them under Explosive Substances Act.
May 26: RAB neutralised a HuJI-B hideout
at Kalma of Ashulia, in Dhaka District and recovered 16 handmade bombs,
24 cocktails and a hoard of bomb-making chemicals.
The Investigation Officer of Criminal
Investigation Department (CID) said in Metropolitan Court that acting
'chief of' HuJI-B Abdul Hannan Sabbir and his accomplices attempted
to kill Awami League (AL) President Sheikh Hasina and her party leaders
before the 21 August grenade attacks in 2004.
May 25: Rapid Action Battalion (RAB)
arrested two militants of Harkat-ul-Jihad-al Islami Bangladesh (HuJI-B),
identified as Mohammad Abdus Salam (39) 'secretary' of Sylhet District
unit and Mohammad Ashraful Islam (30) 'secretary' of Ishwardi sub-district
unit of Pabna District from Savar sub-district in Dhaka District.
May 22: Rapid Action Battalion (RAB)
arrested a suspected militant, identified as Mohammad Obaidullah (40)
of Harkat-ul-Jihad-al Islami Bangladesh (HuJI-B) and seized a few books
on jihad in Sadar sub-district of Pabna District.
May 17: Rapid Action Battalion (RAB)
arrested a suspected operative, identified as Abdul Alim alias Hakim
(45) of Harkat-ul-Jihad-al Islami Bangladesh (HuJI-B), and recovered
arms, explosives and bomb making materials from Jhenidah District. Recoveries
included two live bombs, half kilogram of gunpowder, two magazines,
cartridge making equipment, bomb making materials, batteries of mobile
phones and eight books on jihad. Earlier in 1998, he was arrested along
with firearms and bomb making materials from Jibonnagar sub-district
of Chuadanga District but was later released on bail.
May 16: Maulana Sheikh Farid alias Shawkat
Osman, a leader of Harkat-ul Jihad al-Islami Bangladesh (HuJI-B), has
disclosed names of his accomplices who were involved in the bomb attack
on a Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB) rally May 16, 2001. He was
earlier remanded in the August 21, 2004 grenade attack case. During
his remand period, Farid disclosed several names of his accomplices
who were also involved with the bomb attack at Paltan Maidan in Dhaka
on January 20, 2001.
May 10: Criminal Investigation Department
(CID) official has told Dhaka Metropolitan Court that Maulana Sheikh
Farid, a leader of banned outfit Harkat-ul-Jihad-al Islami Bangladesh
(HuJI-B), was involved in the bomb attack on a Communist Party of Bangladesh
(CPB) rally in the capital Dhaka on January 20, 2001.
Separately, Vice-Chairman of Al Markajul
Islami, an NGO, Mufti Abdur Rashid, who was arrested in August 21 grenade
attack case and later released by CID confessed before a Dhaka Court
on May 9 that HuJI-B leaders visited Hawa Bhaban in Banani, Dhaka several
times using their ambulances and the Islamic NGO funded the HuJI-B activities.
According to the sources, Rashid in the statement said, before the attack
he accompanied HuJI-B leaders Abdus Salam, Mufti Hannan, Abu Taher,
Sheikh Farid and Sabbir when they went to Hawa Bhaban. Rashid, hailing
from Gopalganj District, stayed at Karachi New Town Madrasa in Pakistan
from 1985 to 1997.
May 8: Criminal Investigation Department
(CID) personnel arrested Moulana Abdul Rashid, Vice-Chairman of non-governmental
organisation Al Markajul Islami Bangladesh, from his office in Dhaka’s
Shyamoli with links to the August 21 grenade attack on an Awami League
rally in 2004. The CID detained Rashid on information from Harkat-ul-Jihad-al
Islami Bangladesh (HuJI-B) leader Moulana Sheikh Farid, who is now on
remand.
May 5: An investigation officer (IO)
of 21 August Grenade Attack case told a Dhaka Court that Harkat-ul-Jihad-al
Islami Bangladesh (HuJI-B) leader Maulana Sheikh Farid was directly
involved with the attack on an Awami League (AL) rally in 2004. Moreover,
he will be cross-examined with another HuJI-B leader Mufti Abdul Hannan
Sabbir, now on remand in the case filed for bomb blasts on a rally of
Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB) at Paltan Maidan (Dhaka city) on
January 20, 2001. The Court granted a four-day remand for further investigation.
May 3: Acting chief of Harkat-ul-Jihad-al
Islami Bangladesh (HuJI-B) Abdul Hannan Sabbir was remanded for five
days to gather information from him to find out whereabouts of others
who were involved with bomb blasts on a rally of Communist Party of
Bangladesh (CPB) at Paltan (Dhaka city) in 2001.
April 28: A Dhaka court placed Rahmatullah
alias Sheikh Farid, a leader of Harkat-ul-Jihad-al Islami Bangladesh
(HuJI-B), on a seven-day remand for interrogation in connection with
the August 21 grenade attack on an Awami League rally in 2004, reports
Daily Star. Meanwhile, HuJI-B Chief Mufti Abdul Hannan and one of his
accomplices Abu Zandal were sent to jail after CID produced them before
the court of Metropolitan Magistrate Mohammad Ismail Hossain on completion
of their one-day remand in Azizur Rahma abduction case. They were earlier
remanded on several days in the same case filed on September 23, 2003.
April 26: Rapid Action Battalion (RAB)
has arrested one of the most wanted leaders of Harkat-ul-Jihad-al Islami
Bangladesh (HuJI-B) Rahmatullah alias Sheikh Farid alias Shawkat Osman
(47) Tongi Railway Station area of Gazipur District. Farid was playing
a vital role to reunite Afghan War participants with some other top
leaders of HuJI-B for the last few years, sources in Security Forces
(SFs) stated.
According to RAB, he is accused in four
cases, two for Ramna Batamul carnage in April 2001, one for a grenade
attack on an Awami League rally on Bangabandhu Avenue on August 21 in
2004 and the other for planting a 76 kilogrammes bomb near Sheikh Hasina's
rally venue in Kotalipara in 2000. RAB claimed that Farid was acting
as the HuJI-B ameer (chief) and under his leadership the outfit was
reuniting and recruiting members through its District and different
madrassa units. He had also served HuJI-B as the ‘general secretary’
and organising secretary and ameer of Dhaka and Chittagong District
units.
Regarding HuJI-B funding, Farid told
that they get financial aid from some 3,000-4,000 associates working
in different countries of the Middle East. Afghan War veteran Farid
is trained to operate anti-aircraft missile, tank and other sophisticated
weapons. He also fought against Myanmar forces for the Arakan Muslims
in 1995-96. Farid went into hiding after law enforcers started reinvestigation
into different bomb and grenade attacks that saw arrest of a number
of HuJI-B leaders including its former chairman Abdus Salam.
April 26: Harkat-ul-Jihad-al Islami
Bangladesh (HuJI-B) leader Mufti Abdul Hannan and one of his accomplices
were taken on fresh remand for one day in connection with abduction
of a physician in September 2003. Nayeb-e-Ameer of HuJI-B Abdul Hannan
Sabbir and his accomplice Ainul Haque were interrogated for five days
each in a case filed under the Anti-Terrorism Act.
April 25: Rapid Action Battalion (RAB)
arrested two Harkat-ul-Jihad-al Islami Bangladesh (HuJI-B) cadres, including
its acting ‘Chief’ Abdul Hannan Sabbir from a hideout at Keraniganj
in Dhaka District. Sabbir (51) is an accused in carrying out bomb attacks
on an Udichi programme in Jessore and a Pahela Baishakh celebrations
event at Ramna Batamul, The other arrestee Ainul Haq (28) was coordinating
recruitment and secret training of HUJI-B militants. Sabbir was also
sued in a case filed for planting a 76 kilogram bomb at Sheikh Hasina's
rally venue at Kotalipara in Gopalganj in 2000. The law enforcers also
recovered some compact disks (CDs), a bomb-making manual and organisational
books of the outfit. Commander M Sohail, Director of Legal and Media
Wing of RAB stated, "HUJI-B members were visiting different madrasas
to recruit members and impart training to them. Analysis of such activities
suggests they were planning to carry out subversive activities".
According to confessions made by already arrested HUJI-B leaders, the
militants are responsible for more than 20 bomb and grenade attacks
since 1999 that killed over 100 persons.
April 20: The Criminal Investigation
Department (CID) got 25 days more to complete further investigation
into one of the two cases filed for the grenade attacks on Awami League
(AL) rally on August 21, 2004. With this, the CID has been given 21
months and 10 days in nine phases for investigating the case filed under
the Explosive Substances Act. Meanwhile, the murder case filed for the
August 21 grenade attack is now pending with the Second Additional Metropolitan
Sessions Judge's Court in Dhaka. The former State Minister for Home
Lutfozzaman Babar, Dhaka City Corporation Ward Councilor Ariful Islam
Arif, Pakistan based Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) leader Abdul Majid Butt alias
Abu Yusuf Butt, Harkat-ul-Jihad-al Islami Bangladesh (HuJI-B) leader
Maulana Abdur Rouf and four others were shown arrested following further
investigation into the cases.
April 12: In aCourt trial of Ramna Batamul
Blast case, ten years have gone by and the trials are yet to be completed.
During the celebration of Bengali New Year, in 2001, the blast killed
10 people. One of the trial remains stuck as the Supreme Court registrar
is yet to give his opinion on whether the trials of both cases could
be held in the same court. Ironically, the case filed under Explosive
Substances Act (ESA) is pending with the Speedy Trial Tribunal-1 Dhaka.
Seven and a half years after the incident,
during the immediate past caretaker rule, the investigators found Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami
Bangladesh (HuJI-B) links to the blast. Criminal Investigation Department
pressed charges against 14 members of banned militant outfit HuJI-B
on December 30, 2008. The charge-sheeted accused are top leaders of
HuJI-B including top leaders Mufti Abdul Hannan, Mufti Shafiqur Rahman,
Moulana Yahiya, Mufti Abdul Hye, Moulana Shawkat Osman alias Sheikh
Farid, Moulana Abu Bakar alias Selim Hawlader, Moulana Mohammad Tajuddin,
Moulana Abdul Hannan Sabbir, Arif Hasan Suman, Moulana Akbar Hossain
alias Helaluddin, Moulana Abu Taher, Moulana Abdur Rouf, Hafez Jahangir
Alam Badar and Shahadat Ullah alias Jewel. Of them, Hannan, Suman, Jewel,
Abu Taher and Rouf are behind bars while Akbar is out on a High Court
bail. The other eight are still at large.Meantime, the other case filed
for murder is now pending with the Second Additional Metropolitan Sessions
Judge's Court of Dhaka. The same court on November 25, 2010 fixed May
31 for hearing of the case.
April 7: Harkat-ul-Jihad-al Islami Bangladesh
(HuJI-B) ‘Chief’ Mufti Abdul Hannan in his confessional statement said
the two former DGs were behind the conspiracy to make the attack, said
Abdul, also senior special superintendent of Criminal Investigation
Department (CID). The former NSI bosses, who had been arrested in connection
with the 10-truckload of arms haul case, were shown arrested on April
13 in the case relating to the attack on August 21, 2004 at Bangabandhu
Avenue.
March 22: Harkat-ul-Jihad-al Islami
Bangladesh (HuJI-B) ‘leader’ Maulana Abdur Rouf was placed on a four-day
fresh remand in the case filed in connection with supplying and using
grenades for the attack. He gave important information about the incident,
which will help prove the charges against the accused. Earlier, on March
7, 2011 the same court warned the CID for delaying the investigation
and asked it to submit the probe report by March 23, 2011.
March 16: A Dhaka Court placed banned
militant outfit Harkatul Jihad al Islami (HUJI-B) leader Maulana Abdur
Rouf on a five-day remand in connection with the August 21, 2004 grenade
attack case filed under the Explosive Substances Act.
March 10: Gopalganj Detective Branch
of Police arrested nephew of Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HUJI-B) ‘Chief’
Abdul Mufti Hannan and his five associates at Motbari village under
Kotalipara sub-district of Gopalganj District. The arrestees were identified
as Amin-Ur-Rahman (27), and his aides Imran-Ur-Rahman (30), Shimul Taj
(22), Borkat Ali (35), Haidar Ali Sheikh (31) and Bipul Adhikary (18).
All of them hailed from different sub-districts of Gopalganj, Madaripur
and Jessore Districts. Police recovered a China made 7.62mm pistol,
15 gram ganjja, four small packets of heroin and 14 bottles of phensidyl
from Amin's house.
Meanwhile, HUJI-B ‘Chief’ Mufti Abdul
Hannan was taken on a five-day remand in connection with a case for
bomb attack on Baniarchar Catholic Church in Gopalganj District on June
3, 2001 that killed 10 persons and injured another 50.
February 7: Chief of HuJI-B Mufti Abdul Hannan was produced
in the Court of Chief Metropolitan Magistrate amid tight security in
the case for bomb attack on Khulna Ahmadiyya mosque in 1999. Moulana
Obaidul Huq Abdullah, younger brother of Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh
(JMB) chief Sheikh Abdur Rahman was also brought
to the same Court.
February 1: HuJI-B ‘chief’ Mufti Abdul Hannan will be
produced in the Court of Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM), Khulna
District, on February 7 in connection with Kadiani mosque bomb attack
case.
January 28: According to an investigation report it
was revealed that most of the 32 Arges grenades sent to HuJI-B by Pakistan-based
militant outfit LeT were used in at least seven major terror attacks
in 2004-05. Of the attacks, six targeted the leaders of the then opposition
AL, and the other was on the British High Commissioner Anwar Choudhury.
In carrying out the blasts, HuJI-B had been aided by a powerful quarter,
some of who were in state power. Investigators unearthed these while
trying to get to the source of the grenade used in the killing of AL
leader and former Finance Minister S.A.M.S Kibria.
2010
October
10: HuJI-B leader Mufti Moin Sheikh alias Abu Zandal confessed
his involvement in CPB rally blast case in 2001 before a Dhaka Court.
Metropolitan Magistrate Mohammad Sahadat Hossain recorded Zandal's confessional
statement under section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Act after CID
produced him before the Court.
September 26: HuJI-B
leader Mufti Moin Sheikh alias Abu Zandal was shown arrested and was
placed on a four-day remand in connection with the Communist Party of
Bangladesh (CPB) bomb blast case. The case was filed for bomb blasts
at a CPB rally at Paltan Maidan on January 21, 2001 that killed five
people and injured 50 others.
September 23: Additional
Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Mohammad Ali Hussain placed HuJI-B leader
Abu Zandal on a two-day remand after he was produced before a court
in Dhaka on completion of his five-day remand. But Criminal Investigation
Department Special Superintendent of Police Abdul Kahar Akond, prayed
for a three-day remand for Zandal and also submitted a forwarding report
saying that Zandal had admitted that he had collected grenades from
BNP leader Abdus Salam Pintu's residence and had thrown them on an Awami
League rally on August 21, 2004 which left 23 persons dead and many
others injured.
September 15: In
a draft report handed over to the Government, Financial Action Task
Force (FATF), the world's lone anti-money laundering organisation, warned
that Bangladesh faced a significant risk of money laundering and some
risk of terrorism financing. The report, inter alia, also observed that
some outfits designated by the UN as terrorist groups like Al Haramain
(Bangladesh Branch), Global Relief Foundation (GRF), Jama'atul Mujahideen
Bangladesh (JMB) and HuJI-B are active in Bangladesh, posing a serious
threat for the country. The report also said that JMB members have publicly
claimed of receiving funds from Saudi Arabia.
September
6: A Dhaka court placed Abu Zandal, leader
of the HuJI-B on a five-day remand in one of the two cases filed
for the August 21 grenade attack. Third Additional Chief Metropolitan
Magistrate of Dhaka city, Mohammad Ali Hussain, passed the order
after Criminal Investigation Department's Special Superintendent Abdul Kahar Akhand,
also the investigation officer of the case, produced him before it with
a seven-day remand prayer.
August 22: The HuJI-B chief Mufti Abdul
Hannan said that the former BNP and the four-party alliance Government
held him on trumped-up charges during its tenure. "Investigation now
shows that many of the then top leaders had hand in the August 21 grenade
attack," Hannan told the court. "I was taken on remand for 369 days
in 22 cases and brutally tortured in last five years,'' he said requesting
the Court not to grant any further remand. Hannan pleaded innocent before
the court and claimed he was not the chief of HuJI-B, not even a member
of the outfit. Bagerhat District Judicial Magistrate Court-2, however,
placed him on a two-day demand in a case for bomb attack on Sheikh Helal's
public meeting at Mollahat sub-district in 2001.
August 9: Security agencies
have warned that cadres from the Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB)
and Harkat-ul-Jihad-al Islami Bangladesh (HuJI-B) may have infiltrated
into India through the Northeastern States, particularly Assam with
the aim of sabotaging Independence Day celebrations in New Delhi on
August 15. JMB is currently on the run from Security Forces (SFs) in
Bangladesh.
July
18: A Gopalganj Court granted a three-day
fresh remand for banned HuJI-B chief Mufti Abdul Hannan in Baniar Char
church bombing case on June 3, 2001. Five other accused in the case
are Maolana Obadur Rahman, Shipon, Kamruzzaman, Ahad and
Amir Khan.
June 21: The RAB in the last two days arrested two HuJI-B
militants, identified as Abul Kashem alias Abdullah and Abdul Haque
alias Jahangir, who had been sentenced to 12 years' imprisonment for
possessing illegal firearms and explosives from Mymensingh.
June 15: A Sylhet court framed charges
HuJI-B chief Mufti Abdul Hannan and five others in a case filed against
them for grenade attack in the city Awami League rally on August 7,
2004. The incident had left one AL leader killed and 25 others seriously
injured.
May 6: Two Harkat-ul-Jihad-al Islami
Bangladesh (HuJI-B) militants, who were arrested from their house at
Baniachang sub-District of Habibganj on May 5, were placed on a three-day
remand in Judicial Magistrate's Court in Habiganj.
May 5: Police arrested two HuJI-B
militants, Noman and his brother Arif Billah, at their house at Baniachang
sub-District of Habibganj. They were produced in the Judicial Magistrate's
Court, Habiganj with a prayer for 10 days' remand.
April 21: United Kingdom unit chief of banned Islamist
outfit HuJI-B Golam Mostofa was taken on a fresh five-day remand by
Detective Branch (DB) of the Police.
April 18: The
RAB disclosed that detained UK unit ‘chief’ of the HuJI-B, Golam Mostofa was
a close aide to another fugitive Bangladesh-born UK citizen Mustafa
Faisal and an adviser to his Green Crescent Madrasa in Bhola District.
The London Police also picked up Golam Mostofa several
times for interrogation after they arrested Mustafa Faisal, who was
declared a terror suspect in 1996 and 2002 by British courts.
April 16: The Detective
Branch took the Bangladesh-born British citizen and a HuJI-B leader,
who is also an Afghan war veteran, on a four-day remand for interrogation. Dhaka
Metropolitan Police Commissioner A.K.M Shahidul Hoque said
that London Police levelled charges of financing militant groups against
Mostofa and has seized various documents relating to militancy in several
drives. He said, "Coming out of jail on bail, Mostofa was carrying out
militant activities in the country and tried to get other arrested militant
leaders freed," and further added "During his stay in Birmingham, UK,
until 2007, Mostofa had sent thousands of taka to militants active in
Bangladesh. So, London Police filed a case against him under terrorist
financing act of that country." After the Afghan war, Mostofa was also
busy arranging financial support for Bosnia war.
April 15: The
Detective Branch of the Police arrested the alleged UK unit ‘chief’
of the HuJI-B, Golam Mostofa (55), from Osmaninagar in
Sylhet 14 months after he came out of jail on a High Court bail.
January 5: The RAB claimed to have arrested a HuJI-B militant
from Adabor area of Dhaka city. Without disclosing details about the
arrestee, AB Zahid Hossain alias Babu, a RAB press
release only said the RAB members also recovered 10 books on jihad from
the arrestee.
2009
December 31: An unspecified law enforcement
agency arrested Kazi Azizul Haque, an organiser of HuJI-B leaders, from
Sylhet.
December 3: The founder
of HuJI-B, identified as Sheikh Abdus Salam confessed his involvement
in the August 21, 2004 grenade attack on an Awami League rally. In a
statement given to a Dhaka court, Salam also disclosed the names of
a number of top administrative officials and politicians as involved
in the gruesome attack.
November 10: The Police
declared the arrest of a suspected HuJI-B militant, identified as Abdul
Majid, in connection with the August 2, 2004 grenade attack case.
November 2: Police arrested
Moulana Sheikh Abdus Salam, founder of the HuJI-B, for suspected links
with the August 21, 2004 grenade attack on an AL rally.
October 12: Police arrested a HuJI-B militant, identified
as Abu Obaida alias Harun at Bhuiyan Bazar of Sonagazi sub-District
in Feni District. Harun along with some other militants, including now
detained top HuJI-B leader Moulana Abu Sayeed, had been involved in
plans to attack the Awami League president at an election rally in Sylhet
on September 26, 2001.
September 24: A Dhaka
court placed HuJI-B chief Mufti Abdul Hannan on a three-day remand in
a case for abducting a physician. Metropolitan Magistrate Ferdous Ara
passed the order after the CID produced Hannan before the court with
a 10-day remand prayer. Homeopathic physician Azizur Rahman was abducted
on September 4, 2003, and has been missing since. In the forwarding
report placed before the court on September 23, the CID Inspector Mohammad
Shahjahan, the investigation officer (IO) of the case, said he received
information from various sources, including the victim's wife and reports
published in newspapers, which indicate Hannan's involvement in Azizur's
abduction.
September 9: A Dhaka
court cancelled bails of two HuJI-B cadres, granted earlier by another
court, in one of the two August 21, 2004 grenade attack cases on grounds
that the charges brought against them were heinous and unpardonable.
The HuJI-B cadres, identified as Munshi Mohibullah alias Mohibur
Rahman, brother of HuJI-B Chief Mufti Abdul Hannan, and Arif Hasan Sumon,
had obtained bail from a speedy trial tribunal. In the order, the judge
said the charges brought against the HuJI-B members were heinous. They
along with the other accused killed 23 people including AL leader Ivy
Rahman, wife of President Zillur Rahman, and injured many others by
exploding grenades at an AL rally. Further, another Dhaka court fixed
October 4 for hearing on the Government petition seeking cancellation
of bails granted to two HuJI-B cadres in the other case.
August 2: SFs disclosed the arrests of six HuJI-B militants
in the night of August 1 from areas in the capital and elsewhere in
the country. The arrestees were identified as Abul Khair of Manikganj
District, Maulana Mohammad Musa of Chandpur District, Abdul Aziz of
Feni District, Rezaul Karim and Anwar Uddin Javed of Chakaria Sub-District
in Cox's Bazaar District, and Abdullah Al Hossain of Banshkhali Sub-District
in Chittagong District. They are all accused in different cases filed
in connection with grenade and bomb attacks and militant activities
in the last one decade.
July 20: The former chief of the banned
HuJI-B outfit, Shariful Islam Maulana Sheikh Abdus Salam, who was arrested
in connection with the 2001 CPB rally blast case, was released on bail
from the Dhaka Central Jail. Jail officials said they received an order
for his release from the Sessions Judge's Court, Dhaka, which issued
the bail order. "Receiving the bail order, we reported it to different
intelligence agencies for checking as Salam allegedly has links with
a banned militant organisation. On receiving clearance from the intelligence
agencies we released him around 3:00pm," Deputy Jailer Kamrul Islam
said. The Home Ministry ordered an intelligence agency to investigate
the setting up of a charity called Faruqi Welfare Foundation by the
HuJI-B. The Foundation obtained a certificate from the Registrar of
Joint Stock Companies and Firms on June 29, 2008.
April 16: The Metropolitan Sessions Court in Dhaka framed
charges against 14 operatives of the HuJI-B, including its chief Mufti
Abdul Hannan, in two cases filed in connection with the Ramna Batamul
bomb blast of April 14, 2001. Judge A. N. M. Bashir Ullah rejected the
discharge petitions submitted by the counsels for Hannan and five others.
The court fixed April 28, 29 and 30 for trial of the case filed under
the Explosive Substances Act and set May 3, 4 and 5 for trial of the
murder case.
March 24: Founding member of the HuJI-B and the ameer
of the Islamic Democratic Party (IDP), Maulana Sheikh Abdus Salam, was
remanded to four-day Crime Investigation Department custody in connection
with the bomb attack on a Communist Party of Bangladesh rally on January
20, 2001.
March 23: An intelligence agency arrested a HuJI-B founding
member, identified as Maulana Sheikh Abdus Salam, from his home in the
Bashundhara residential area of capital Dhaka. Abdus Salam is the ameer
(chief) of the Islamic Democratic Party (IDP). He was born in Sherpur
and reportedly went to Afghanistan in the early 1980s and returned in
1989. He also studied in the madrassas of Bangladesh and Pakistan. According
to sources, some Afghanistan War veterans led by Abdus Salam officially
launched the HuJI through a press conference at the Jatiya Press Club
on April 30, 1992.
2008
December 23: Three HuJI-B militants,
including its chief Mufti Abdul Hannan, were sentenced to death in a
murder case filed in connection with the grenade attack on the then
British High Commissioner Anwar Choudhury in May 2004. The two others
sentenced to death were identified as Sharif Shahedul Alam Bipul and
Mohazmmed Delwar Hossain alias Ripon. The Sylhet Divisional Speedy Trial
Tribunal also awarded life terms to two other accused in the case -
Mufti Hannan's brother Muhibullah alias Muhibur Rahman alias Ovi and
Mufti Main Uddin alias Abu Zandal.
November 30: The Criminal Investigation
Department (CID) charge sheeted 14 HuJI-B operatives including the outfit's
'operations commander' Mufti Abdul Hannan, in two cases filed in connection
with the Ramna Batamul blast on April 14, 2001. At a press briefing,
CID chief Additional Inspector General Mohammad Javed Patwari said some
22 HuJI-B cadres were directly involved in the blast. However, charges
have been pressed against 14 as addresses of the remaining eight were
not found. Of the 14, only six, including Hannan, have been arrested.
October 29: The Speedy Trial Tribunal-1 in Dhaka framed
charges against detained former BNP parliamentarian Abdus Salam Pintu,
HuJI-B 'operations commander' Mufti Abdul Hannan and 20 others in two
cases filed for grenade attacks on an AL rally in August 2004. The court
fixed November 5 for trial of the cases--one for murder and another
for bomb blast--and summoned the complainant to appear before it on
that date. The grenade attacks on the AL rally on Bangabandhu Avenue
in Dhaka on August 21, 2004 killed 24 people, including Ivy Rahman,
wife of the acting AL President Zillur Rahman, killed and injured 200
others, including AL chief Sheikh Hasina. The court charged Pintu with
approving the plan of the grenade attack prepared by Hannan and his
accomplices. The former BNP lawmaker was also charged with assisting
the HuJI-B cadres with finance and administrative help and abetting
them for killing and injuring the victims.
October 28: The EC rejected registration
applications of around 40 political parties, including that of the Islamic
Democratic Party (IDP) formed by HuJI-B leaders, as they neither comply
with the country's constitution or the registration conditions. A letter
to this effect was issued to the IDP. As many as 107 organisations have
applied for registration, now mandatory for seeking election to parliament.
Of these, 22 are religion-based parties. According to the registration
criteria laid down in the electoral laws, a party must have won a seat,
or polled five percent of the votes in a constituency in any of the
parliamentary polls since independence. It must have headquarters and
offices in at least 10 districts or 50 sub-districts. Besides, it must
disclose its sources of funds etc, and its constitution must not contradict
the national constitution.
August 31: The Metropolitan Sessions
Judge's Court in Dhaka asked eight absconding HuJI-B cadres to appear
before the court by September 21 in connection with the August 21 grenade
attack on an AL rally case. The absconding cadres were identified as
Maulana Tajuddin, Maulana Liton, Anisul Mursalin, Mahibul Muttakin,
Iqbal, Maulana Abu Bakar alias Selim Howlader, Jahangir Alam Badar and
Khalilur Rahman. Maulana Tajuddin is the brother of former BNP parliamentarian
Abdus Salam Pintu. The court directed the authorities concerned to give
advertisement in two national Bangla dailies asking the absconding accused
to appear before the court on the scheduled date.
August 10: The Metropolitan Sessions
court in Dhaka rejected the bail petitions of two HuJI-B cadres, Rafiqul
Islam and Arif Hassan Sumo, in a case filed for exploding grenades at
an Awami League (AL) rally on Bangabandhu Avenue in Dhaka on August
21, 2004.
June 23: A Dhaka court issued arrest
warrants against eight absconding HuJI-B militants, including Maulana
Tajuddin, brother of detained former BNP lawmaker Abdus Salam Pintu,
in the August 21 grenade attack case. The court fixed July 24 for returning
the arrest warrants to the court.
June 17: Four HuJI-B cadres were sentenced
to 20 years' rigorous imprisonment (RI) in an explosives case in Magura.
The special tribunal also fined them Taka 5,000 each. The militants
were identified as Mokaddes Ali, ameer (chief) of Magura district unit
Khelafat Majlish, its general secretary Bakibillah, Khalilur Rahman
and Rafikul Islam Sabuj. Earlier on June 10, they were sentenced to
20 years' RI for possessing illegal arms.
June 15: A court in Satkhira sentenced
two HuJI-B cadres to 20 years rigorous imprisonment (RI) each for possession
of 44 Arges grenades. The court also fined both the militants Taka 20,000
each. The militants were identified as Moin Uddin alias Abu Zandal,
a close aide to the outfit’s operations commander Mufti Abdul Hannan
and Nazrul Islam Gharami, son of Mujibur Rahman Gharami from Shimulia
village in Debhata sub-district. Based on the statement by Abu Zandal,
RAB personnel had arrested Nazrul Islam Gharami and recovered 44 grenades
of Arges brand hidden in a pond in Shimulia village under Debhata sub-district
on February 15.
June 11: Criminal Investigation Department
(CID) filed charge sheets in the August 21, 2004 grenade attack on the
AL rally in Dhaka case. Among the accused were 22 persons including
HuJI-B operations commander Mufti Abdul Hannan and the BNP leader and
former deputy minister Abdus Salam Pintu. The CID, in the chargesheet
said that the attack was intended to kill AL leader Sheikh Hasina as
she was perceived to be "harmful" for Islam.
June 10: Special Tribunal Court No 3
in Magura on June 10 sentenced four HuJI-B cadres to 20 years rigorous
imprisonment (RI) each for possessing arms and explosives. The court
also fined them Taka 5,000 each. The HuJI-B cadres sentenced have been
identified as Mokaddes Ali, Bakibillah, Khalil and Rafikul, of whom
the first two are in custody and the latter two are absconding. Both
Mokaddes Ali and Bakibillah, ameer (chief) and general secretary of
the Magura district Khelafat Majlish (KM), had been arrested on October
29, 2007 following a statement by operations commander of the outfit,
Mufti Abdul Hannan. The Security force personnel had also recovered
two Chinese rifles, 86 rounds of bullet, two bombs, two pairs of army
uniform and a huge quantity of explosives from the grounds of Kharabila
field in Nohata area under Mohammadpur sub-district following their
interrogation.
June 6: HuJI-B leader Rafiqul Islam
Sabuj confessed to his involvement in the grenade attack on the Awami
League rally in the capital Dhaka on August 21, 2004. His statement
was recorded in the court of Magistrate Abdullah Al Mamun where he had
been produced on the expiry of his five-day remand under the Criminal
Investigation Department (CID). A total of 14 people have so far been
arrested in connection with the grenade attack. Of them, eight gave
statements before the court, admitting their involvement in the attack.
June 1: HuJI-B leader Rafiqul Islam
Sabuj was arrested by RAB personnel at Baliakandi under Rajbari district.
May 30: RAB personnel arrested two suspected
HuJI-B cadres who were part of the team that lobbed grenades on an Awami
League rally in the capital Dhaka on August 21, 2004. RAB sources said
that Rafiqul Islam alias Sabuj was arrested from Baliakandi of Rajbari
and Uzzal Hossain alias Ratan was arrested from Noahata in the Magura
district on May 30. Both were present during a press conference the
RAB held in Dhaka on May 31 where both admitted to their crimes. RAB
officials further said that five other persons with suspected links
to the HuJI-B were also arrested during a raid in the Kurshi village
of Rajbari district and have been handed over to the Police. Some documents
and two books on jihad were recovered from the arrested militants.
May 28: The District and Sessions Judge's
Court in Satkhira framed charges against two HuJI-B cadres, identified
as Moinuddin alias Abu Zandal and Nazrul Islam Gharami, for possession
of 44 grenades. Zandal, a close aide to the arrested HuJI-B ‘operations
commander’ Mufti Hannan, was arrested from Gazipur on February 14, 2008.
Following information provided by Zandal, the RAB on February 15 arrested
Gharami from Nalta bazaar in the Kaliganj sub-district. On the same
day, after receiving a confessional statement from Gharami, the RAB
personnel recovered 44 grenades from a pond at Shimulia village.
May 26: RAB personnel arrested a suspected
HuJI-B cadre from his Sonatundi village house in the Sreepur sub-district
of Magura. The arrested militant, identified as Farhad Hossain, was
a health-worker of the Magura-based Islamic NGO 'Ehsan S Bangladesh',
RAB sources said. Earlier, another HuJI-B cadre, Abul Kalam Azad alias
Bulbul of Jhenidah, who too worked in the same NGO had been arrested
in connection with a grenade attack on former Prime Minister Sheikh
Hasina in Dhaka.
May 21: The Criminal Investigation Department
(CID) showed two operatives of the HuJI-B, Maulana Idris Ali and Maulana
Monir Hossain, as arrested in the Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB)
rally bomb attack case and filed a petition with a Dhaka court seeking
their 10-day remand. Idris and Monir are also accused in a number of
grenade and bomb attack cases, including those filed in connection with
the August 21, 2001 grenade attack on an Awami League rally in Dhaka
and the April 14, 2001 bombing of the Pahela Baishakh celebrations at
Ramna Batamul.
May 20: Hasan Mahmood Khandaker, Director
General of the RAB said that the militant group HuJI-B had been marginalised
following a crackdown. "Bangladesh banned the HuJI group years ago after
it was banned in the United States and other countries as a top militant
organisation," he said. He further said, "Dozens of HuJI activists in
Bangladesh including their chief Mufti Abdul Hannan have been detained
over the years. While we don’t rule out the existence of HuJI in Bangladesh,
we can say their activity has been drastically controlled by the security
agencies here."
May 15: A Dhaka court sent the detained
HuJI-B leader, Arif Hasan Sumon, to jail as he denied his involvement
in the bomb attack on a Communist Party of Bangladesh rally on July
20, 2001. The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) produced him in
the court of Metropolitan Magistrate Waliul Islam at the end of his
five-day remand. The CID sources said Sumon had confessed to his involvement
during the interrogation in the remand. But in the court, he denied
his involvement in the attack. Earlier, Suman gave a confessional statement
before a court admitting his involvement in the bomb attack at Ramna
Batamul during the celebration of Pahela Baishakh on April 14 in 2001.
April 19: A close associate of the imprisoned
operations commander of the HuJI-B, Mufti Abdul Hannan, was arrested
by the RAB personnel from a forest area in the Fatikchhari sub-district
of Chittagong. The militant, Maulana Shihabuddin, who runs a madrassa,
is suspected of having been involved in several grenade attacks across
the country.
March 10: The Criminal Investigation
Department (CID) submitted supplementary charge sheets of two cases
filed in connection with the grenade attack on the British High Commissioner
at the shrine of Hajrat Shahjalal in Sylhet in 2004. The charge sheets
accused the HuJI-B leader Abu Zandal alias Mufti Mainuddin and Masum
Billah Khaza of delivering the grenades for the attack. The investigation
officer told although charge sheets of the cases were submitted earlier,
further investigation was carried out on the basis of the confessional
statement of HuJI-B ‘operations commander’ Mufti Abdul Hannan, who indicated
that the Abu Zandal had provided the grenades through the outfit’s operatives
Sharif Shahedul Alam Bipul and Delwar Hossain Ripon.
March 10: Daily Star reports that leaders
of the HuJI-B had formed a new political party called Islami Gono Andolan
in 2006 with an objective of carrying out political activities openly.
A seven member committee led by Maulana Abdus Salam, founder of the
Fatematuz Zohra women's madrassa (seminary) in Sherpur in the Bogra
district, carries out the organisational activities of the party. Former
deputy commander of HuJI-B and founder of Ommulara Al Islami madrassa
of Shajahanpur in Bogra, Abdul Hannan Sabbir, and HuJI-B leader Abdul
Aziz are members of the committee.
March 6: The Bangladesh Home Ministry
said there has been no operation of the HuJI-B in the country and the
law enforcers were on alert to check against the resurgence of the outfit.
Additional secretary of the home ministry Abdur Rashid said in a briefing
at the ministry, "Intelligence agencies and lawmen are keeping
watch so that the extremist organisation cannot resume its operation."
March 5: The United States State Department
labelled HuJI-B as a foreign terrorist organisation (FTO). The outfit
was previously put on the list of 'Other Terrorist Organisations' in
2003 by the US. A press release to this effect by the state department
said, "The leader of HuJI-B signed the February 1998 fatwa sponsored
by Usama bin Ladin [sic] that declared American civilians to be legitimate
targets for attack. Since then, HuJI-B has been implicated in a number
of terrorist attacks in Bangladesh and abroad." Signed by US Secretary
of State Condoleezza Rice, the Executive Order 13224, criminalises providing
material support to HuJI-B by US citizens or people living under US
jurisdictions, and freezes all HuJI-B property and interests in the
US and in areas under US jurisdiction. The designation also enabled
the US to deny visas to HuJI-B representatives, and requires US financial
institutions to freeze assets held by HuJI-B.
March 4: Pratham Alo reported
that the HuJI-B used to supply grenades to the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Toiba
(LeT)
to carry out attacks in India. An arrested HuJI-B leader Abu Zandal
has told the police during his interrogation in Dhaka that the outfit
had sent several consignments of grenades to the LeT operating in India
until 2004. The last such consignment however, could not be delivered
as the LeT representative who was supposed to receive it was killed
in an encounter with Border Security Force (BSF) near Bangladesh's Kaliganj
frontier. Zandal reportedly told the interrogators that the LeT leader
Yazdani, who was killed in 2006 by the Delhi Police, used to maintain
links with the detained HuJI-B ‘operations commander’ Mufti Abdul Hannan.
Zandal also claimed that the supply of ‘Arges’ grenades were being received
from a fugitive, Maulana Tazuddin, believed to be hiding in South Africa.
February 28: Daily Star reported
that the dormitories of Dhaka Polytechnic Institute in the national
capital’s Tejgaon area have turned into a safe haven for fugitive criminals
and militants. Criminals and militants are taking refuge within the
three hostels of the Institute. Unidentified students and law enforcement
agencies have confirmed that the criminals are being provided shelter
by the Islami Chhatra Shibir. Several teachers with Jamaat background
and with alleged links with the HuJI-B are also involved in the incident.
Prof Shamshul Alam, principal of the Institute, admitted that some teachers
of the institute are assisting the militants to hide in the dormitories,
but said that the authorities are unable to take actions against those
teachers since the issue is "out of their jurisdiction to deal with".
February 23: The two detained HuJI-B
militants who were involved in the August 21, 2004 grenade attacks on
the AL rally in capital Dhaka were placed on three days' remand. They
were identified as Maulana Abul Kalam Azad alias Bulbul and Hossain
Ahmed alias Tamim. The Criminal Investigation Department reportedly
plans to interrogate them along with the detained HuJI-B militant Mufti
Moinuddin alias Abu Zandal for cross-checking the information provided
earlier by Zandal.
February 21: Daily Star reported
that the HuJI-B leader Mufti Moinuddin alias Abu Zandal, now on a seven-day
remand, during his interrogation has admitted his role in carrying out
the August 21 grenade attack on an AL rally in 2004 with an intention
of killing its chief Sheikh Hasina. Zandal, a close aide of detained
HuJI-B operations commander Mufti Abdul Hannan, is being interrogated
by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) at the Taskforce for
Interrogation (TFI) cell in Dhaka. According to the report, the CID
proposes to bring two more HuJI-B cadres, Moulana Abul Kalam Azad Bulbul
and Tamim, who were arrested earlier in connection with the August 21
attack, face to face with Zandal to verify information so far gained
from him.
February 19: A Dhaka court remanded
HuJI-B leader Mufti Mainuddin alias Abu Jandal alias Masum Billah in
custody for seven days. The investigating officer told the court that
Jandal had supplied the grenades that were used in the attack.
February 14: The RAB personnel arrested
Mufti Moinuddin, alias Abu Zandal, a key accomplice of the HuJI-B operations
commander Mufti Abdul Hannan near a mosque in national capital Dhaka,
on charges of carrying out a grenade attack at a rally of former Prime
Minister and AL leader Sheikh Hasina Wajed. Based on his confession,
RAB forces seized 41 live grenades from a remote village in southwestern
district of Satkhira. RAB sources said same type of grenades were also
used during the attack on Sheikh Hasina's rally.
January 18: Abdus Salam Pintu, former
Deputy Minister in the Khaleda Zia Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP)
Cabinet in Bangladesh admitted before a Dhaka court that the then Home
Minister, Lutfozzaman Babar, and Ms. Zia’s son, Tariq Rahman, had given
the nod for the August 21, 2004 grenade attack on the Awami League (AL)
rally in capital Dhaka that led to the death of 23 AL activists. Pintu,
who is currently under detention, said the plan was to kill AL leader
Sheikh Hasina and senior leaders of the party. Pintu is the brother
of Maulana Tajul Islam, a militant leader, who reportedly supplied the
grenade to HuJI-B leader Mufti Hannan to conduct the "operation." Both
Babar and Rahman are now facing charges of corruption and misuse of
power and are under detention.
2007
December 14: RAB personnel arrested
a HuJI-B militant, Manirul Islam Madina, from Porabari Narayanpur village
in the Benapole district. Manirul is a close associate of Mufti Hannan,
the outfit's operations commander. A revolver, one bullet, two Indian
mobile phone sets and two air tickets were recovered from his possession.
December 2: Police submitted a charge
sheet before the Jhenidah Chief Judicial Magistrate's Court against
six HuJI-B militants, in connection with the serial bomb blasts in Jhenidah
on August 17, 2005. They were identified as Abul Kalam Azad alias Bulbul,
Mohammad Ali, Jhenidah Sadar, Omar Faruk alias Laden, Jahangir Alam
and Abul Kashem. They were arrested by the RAB personnel from different
places in the Jhenidah district on October 28, and following their confessions
huge explosives, including 16 grenades, were recovered from their houses
on the next day.
November 29: HuJI-B operations commander
Mufti Abdul Hannan told the interrogators that the operatives of his
outfit had attacked late poet Shamsur Rahman with intent to kill him
on his orders on January 18, 1999. The attack was led by HuJI-B cadre
Hasan who was a student of Dhaka College at the poet's residence in
the Shyamali locality in the national capital. The attackers had entered
his residence and had tried to cut his head off with an axe, leaving
him seriously wounded.
HuJI-B Dhaka city unit leader Maulana Abu Taher, on
remand in a case filed for Ramna Batamul blasts in 2001, admitted to
supplying the bombs used in the attack that left 10 people dead and
many injured. He told the interrogators that two Dhaka College students--Hasan
and Omar Faruq--carried the bombs to Ramna Batamul area and kept those
hidden somewhere close to the venue before the security checks were
carried out. Later, other HuJI-B activists planted those near the stage
erected for cultural shows.
November 27: Police arrested two HuJI-B
cadres from a student mess in Zakir Hossain Road in the Mohammadpur
locality of Dhaka for their suspected links to the August 21, 2004 grenade
attacks on an Awami League rally in the national capital and Ramna Batamul
blasts in 2001. The arrested cadres were identified as Maulana Mohammad
Monir Hossain and Maulana Mohammad Idris. Both were subsequently produced
in a court which remanded them to police custody for five days.
Bangladesh sought Interpol's help to
bring back two HuJI-B operatives, twins identified as Morsalin and Muttakin,
claimed to be now in India. Unidentified Bangladeshi officials said
that the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) sought the Interpol
assistance saying Morsalin and Muttakin directly took part in the August
21, 2004 grenade attacks on the Awami League rally, the Ramna Batamul
attack of 2001 and the blasts on the Communist Party of Bangladesh rally
in 2005. CID sources said the outfit's 'operations commander' Mufti
Abdul Hannan and his five detained accomplices gave the names of the
twins during interrogation. CID sources said that both were arrested
with a huge quantity of explosives from New Delhi railway station on
February 26, 2006 and are currently lodged in a Delhi jail.
November 25: The Additional Chief Metropolitan
Magistrate's court in Dhaka placed two HuJI-B militants on a seven-day
remand for their involvement in the bomb attacks on a Communist Party
of Bangladesh (CPB) rally at national capital Dhaka's Paltan Maidan
on January 21, 2001. The duo was identified as Mohibullah alias Mofizur
Rahman and Sharif Shahidul Alam alias Bipul. Mohibullah is brother of
the outfit's 'operations commander' Mufti Abdul Hannan, who is currently
in jail.
November 18: Daily Star quoting
a HuJI-B 'deserter' reported that at least 65 cadres of the outfit were
trained by its 'chief trainer' Abul Kalam Azad alias Bulbul at camps
in the Jhenidah district from 1999 to August 2005. Precincts of various
madrassas were used for imparting the training. Rapid Action Battalion
personnel on October 28 had arrested Bulbul following information extracted
from the detained HuJI-B 'operations commander' Mufti Abdul Hannan.
November 17: Two more HuJI-B cadres
confessed to having taken part in the grenade attacks on the August
21, 2004 Awami League rally in Dhaka that killed 24 people. Metropolitan
Magistrate Mohammad Shahin Uddin recorded the confessional statements
of Abul Kalam Azad and Jahangir Alam Bulbul after Investigating Officer
Fazlul Kabir produced them before the court following a 10-day remand.
Another HuJI-B cadre, Abu Taher, was
placed on a two-day fresh remand for interrogation in the same case.
November 14: The Additional Chief Metropolitan
Magistrate's court in Dhaka placed a HuJI-B cadre on a three-day remand
in a case filed in connection with grenade attack on an Awami League
rally in the capital Dhaka on August 21, 2004. The investigation officer
in the case has requested for a seven day remand to interrogate Hafez
Moulana Abu Taher, who he said was directly involved in the grenade
attacks. Taher reportedly had supplied the grenades used in the attack.
November 12: Police arrested a JMB leader,
Maulana Shahidul Islam, at Pathan Para in Gazipur. The arrested militant,
who worked as an imam at the Al Madina Masjid is reportedly the
'divisional commander' of the group in Faridpur. He is also an accused
in the August 17, 2005 country-wide bombings.
The Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's
court in Dhaka placed HuJI-B cadre Maulana Abdul Latif on a two-day
fresh remand in connection with the Ramna Batamul blast case of 2001.
Latif is a close aide of the outfit's operations commander Mufti Abdul
Hannan, who is currently in jail. The investigating officer of the case
submitted that Latif is directly involved with the bomb blast and he
needs to be interrogated to secure more information about the blast.
November 5: The Criminal Investigation
Department submitted to the Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate
Golam Rabbani that the two arrested HuJI-B militants Abul Kalam Azad
of Jhenidah and Jahangir Alam of Kushtia have been arrested in connection
with the August 21, 2004 grenade attacks on an Awami League rally in
Dhaka.
November 1: HuJI-B operations
commander Mufti Mohammad Hannan and two other cadres of the outfit confessed
to carrying out the August 21, 2004 grenade attack on the Awami League
rally at Dhaka with the intent of killing the AL President Sheikh Hasina.
The other two cadres were identified as Hannan’s brother Mohibullah
alias Mafizur Rahman and Moulana Sharif Shahidul Alam alias Bipul. All
three made the confessional statements under section 164 of the Criminal
Procedure Code and Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Sultan Mahmud
recorded the statements in his chamber. In the statement, the militants
said that they had smuggled the grenades from Afghanistan, the country
where Hannan joined the Mujahideens to fight the then Soviet forces
in the 80s.
October 29: Nine suspected
HuJI-B militants were arrested from Narsingdi, Jhenidah, Magura, Khulna
and Dhaka on October 28 and 29 along with the huge cache of arms and
explosives. The cache included 60 kilograms of explosives, 16 grenades,
rifles, handguns, various equipment and ammunition. RAB sources said
that two of the nine arrested had taken part in the August 21, 2004
grenade blasts at an Awami League rally in capital Dhaka, while the
rest were involved indirectly in the incident. The arrested were identified
as Hossain Ahmed alias Tamim, Abul Kalam Azad alias Bulbul, Jahangir
Alam, Abdul Kuddus, Omar Faruq, Amirul Islam, Ali Ahmed, Mokaddes Billah
and Mohammad Baki Billah.
October 23: A Dhaka court
placed the HuJI-B ‘operations commander’ Mufti Abdul Hannan on a 10-day
remand in a case filed in connection with the August 21, 2004 grenade
attack on an Awami League rally in capital Dhaka. With this, Hannan
has been on 135 days of remand so far in several cases, including the
August 17, 2005 countrywide bomb blasts, the 2001 Ramna Batamul blast
and the 2004 grenade attack on British High Commissioner Anwar Choudhury
in Sylhet.
September 2: Indian media
reports that Bangladesh police arrested Mohammad Sharifuddin alias Abu
Hamza, an operative of the HuJI-BD, at an unspecified place on the India-Bangladesh
border following information from police in Hyderabad, capital of Andhra
Pradesh in south India. According to Hyderabad Police sources, Hamza,
once a resident of the Santoshnagar area in the city, was involved in
the blasts at the State Task Force office in October 2005 and at the
Mecca Masjid on May 18, 2007. Police also believe that Hamza was responsible
for smuggling RDX into the country on the orders of HuJI ‘commander’
Shahid Bilal. Bangladesh authorities subsequently deny any such arrest.
July 31: The Additional District and
Sessions Judge in Sylhet framed charges against Mufti Abdul Hannan,
chief of the outlawed HuJI-B, and three others, including Hannan's brother
Mofizur Rahman and the outfit’s operatives Delwar Hossain Ripon and
Sharif Shahedul Alam alias Bipul, for the grenade attack on British
High Commissioner Anwar Choudhury in Sylhet in 2004.
2006
December 23: The Awami League (AL) party
enters into a deal with the Bangladesh Khelafat Majlish, which is linked
to the HUJI. Both the sides agree, among other points, to recognise
fatwa (religious edict) by certified Hakkani alems (educated clerics)
and implement government recognition to the degree conferred by traditional
Madrassa if the AL-led alliance came to power.
November 18: HuJI-B leader Mufti Abdul
Hannan confessed to plotting and leading several grenade attacks, including
those on the Udichi programme in Jessore, Ramna Batamul, and the British
High Commissioner in Sylhet.
November 12: The Chief Metropolitan
Magistrate Court in Dhaka placed Mufti Abdul Hannan, 'operations commander'
of the HuJI-B, his brother Mahibullah alias Mafizur Rahman and their
close associate Badrul Alam Mizan on a five-day fresh remand for each
in connection with the killings of two civilians, Shahidul Islam and
Sayem, near a Bashundhara project under Badda police station on September
19, 2003.
November 10: A detained HuJI-B operative
confessed to have carried out the grenade attack on the Awami League
rally at Derai in Sunamganj in June 2004.
November 2: The Chief Metropolitan Magistrate
Court in Dhaka placed Mufti Abdul Hannan, 'operations commander' of
the HuJI-B, his brother Mahibullah alias Mafizur Rahman and close associate
Badrul Alam Mizan on an eight-day remand in connection with the case
filed with Badda Police Station related to the killings of Shahidul
Islam and Sayem near the Bashundhara project on September 19, 2003.
October 27: The Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's
Court in Dhaka remands ‘operations commander’ of the HuJI-B, Mufti Abdul
Hannan, and his brother as well as a cadre of the outfit, Mahibullah
alias Mafizur Rahman, for five days in connection with the killing of
Arif alias Dil on November 5, 2001.
October 16: Two HuJI-B cadres, who were
placed on remand on October 15 in connection with the grenade attack
on the British High Commissioner Anwar Choudhury in 2004 in Sylhet,
confess to their involvement in the incident. They also confess that
they were involved in the bomb attacks on Sylhet City Corporation Mayor
Badar Uddin Ahmed Kamran and former Awami League lawmaker Syeda Zebunnesa
Haque.
October 15: Sylhet Sadar Cognizance
Magistrate places two HuJI-B cadres, Sharif Shahedul and Delwar Hossain
Ripon of Moulvibazar district, on a five-day remand in connection with
the grenade attack on the British High Commissioner in 2004.
October 10: The Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's
Court in Dhaka places Mufti Abdul Hannan, HuJI-B’s ‘operations commander’
and his brother Mohibullah alias Mofizur Rahman on a 10-day remand in
the murder case filed with Mohammadpur Police Station in connection
with the killing of Mohammad Bazlur Rahman on July 17, 2004.
October 4: Four arrested HuJI-Bcadres
are remanded in the Detective Branch custody for 10 days by the first-class
magistrate court in Sylhet for interrogation in connection with the
grenade attack on the Sylhet Mayor on December 3, 2005.
September 19: Abu Taher alias Abu Sayeed
alias Abu Jafar, a top HuJI-B leader, admits to having links with a
number of militant organisations across the world, including the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen
(HuM) and Harkat-ul-Ansar.
September 17: Mohibullah alias Mofizur
Rahman, brother of HuJI-B ‘operations commander’ Mufti Abdul Hannan,
is shown as arrested in the Ramna Batamul explosions of April 16, 2001
case and placed on remand for five days.
September 10: Mufti Abdul Hannan, ‘operations
commander’ of the HuJI-B, who is charged with involvement in the Ramna
Batamul explosions, is placed on an eight-day remand by the Chief Metropolitan
Magistrate Court Dhaka.
August 21: The HuJI-B is reported to
have held a meeting in the capital Dhaka on August 18 under the banner
of Sachetan Islami Janata at the north gate of the Baitul Mukarram National
Mosque. The Government, however, claimed ignorance about the meeting.
State Minister for Home Affairs Lutfozzaman Babar said on August 20
that he learnt about the meeting from newspaper reports on August 19.
April 28: A HUJI leader,
identified as Abul Hossain alias Khokon, is charge sheeted before the
Gopalgonj Judge Court for his involvement in a case of an attempt on
the life of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed.
January 23: Chief of the
banned HuJI-B, Mufti Hannan, is sent to the Dhaka Central Jail after
completion of a 106-day remand.
2005
October 17: The Government
proscribes the HuJI terming it as a ‘self-confessed terrorist group’.
October 9: HuJI threatens
to blow up key installations in the Khulna city if its leader Mufti
Abdul Hannan was not released unconditionally. A caller identifying
himself as a HuJI regional leader warned that the attacks will be more
devastating than the August 17 bombings.
October 1: HuJI ‘operations
commander’ Mufti Abdul Hannan is arrested from the Madhya Badda locality
of capital Dhaka.
2004
June 17: Maulana Mohammed
Habibur Rahman, Principal of Jamea Madania Islamia Madrassa (seminary),
at Kazirpar in the Sylhet district admits visiting the Harkatul Jihad
offices in Karachi and Peshawar in 1998 along with eight other Muslim
leaders.
June 1: Police neutralises
a HuJI training camp located in the interior hilly area of Pori-Kup
Mulatoli in Chittagong district and seizes 24 inactive AK-47 rifles,
sharp weapons and instruments and uniforms.
2002
October 7: Indian police
arrest Myanmarese-born HuJI weapons courier Fazle Karim alias Abu Fuzi,
in Kolkata on arrival from Kashmir. He was reportedly trained at Al
Qaeda camps in eastern Afghanistan.
May 9: Sixty-three representatives
of nine Islamic groups-including Rohingya forces, the Islamic Oikya
Jote and the ULFA-meet in Ukhia and form Bangladesh Islamic Manch, a
united council under the HUJI's leadership.
January 22: A group allied
to the HUJI, Asif Reza Commando Force (ARCF) claims responsibility for
the terrorist attack on the American Centre in Kolkata.
2001
June 14: Maoulana Mohammad
Akbar Hossain, the prime suspect in the April 14-bomb blast at a New
Year concert in Dhaka, in which eight persons were killed, is produced
before a Court in Dhaka.
June 8: The accused in
the June 3-Baniachang Church bomb blast, suspected top-ranking leader
of the HuJI and a vice-principal of a seminary, the Siddirganj Madaninagar
Qumi Madrassah, is arrested along with three more accomplices in the
Kakrail area, Dhaka.
June 3: The HuJI is suspected
behind the explosion that rocked a Roman Catholic Church at Baniachang,
in Gopalganj, while the morning Mass was in progress, killing 10 worshippers
and injuring more than 24 others.
April 14: Suspected HuJI
cadres set-off a blast at a New Year’s day celebration in Dhaka killing
at least eight people.
January 26: Charge-sheet
is filed against Mufti Hannan and 16 others for plotting to assassinate
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
2000
July 23: Sixty kg of explosives,
two big live bombs, 21 kg of liquid chemical, three kg of gun powder
and some other explosive materials are recovered from the soap factory
of Mufti Hannan and the residence of Hasmot Ali Kazi.
Explosives are recovered
from the helipad in Kotalipara, which Prime Minister Hasina normally
uses.
July 21: Police recover
a metal box containing explosives from a playground near the venue of
a public rally at Kotalipara, in Gopaganj district, near her hometown
Tungipara. It is later detected that the HuJI had planted the explosives.
July 16: Suspected HuJI
cadres kill journalist Shamsur Rahman in Jessore.
Note:Compiled from news reports and
are provisional.
|
