|
Date
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Incidents
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January 1
|
Two Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh
(JMB) cadres identified
as Abdul Hye alias Masud and Khorshed Alam, who were arrested
along with 28 grenades on December 30, were remanded to seven-day
Police custody.
Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) arrested
an imam (prayer leader) of a mosque, identified as Mizanur
Rahman, at Bheramara Sub-District of Kushtia District, for his
alleged links with an Islamist militant outfit. According to Police,
Mizanur went to the local Army camp at municipality rest house
at around 7:00pm and urged the Army personnel to quit the camp
immediately as a powerful bomb was planted there to kill them.
|
January 2
|
RAB personnel arrested a cadre of the Janajuddha
faction of the outlawed Purba Banglar Communist Party (PBCP)
at Dudshar village in Shailkupa Sub-District in Jhenidah. RAB
also recovered a pistol and two bullets from his possession. The
arrestee was identified as Badiuzzaman Badi alias Palash of Gangni
in Meherpur District and confessed to his involvement with the
outlawed outfit for a long time. Palash was an accused in at least
five cases including four for murder, RAB added.
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January 3
|
JMB threatened to blow up Jessore District School
and Government Momin Girls' High School located in Jessore town
on the day of their admission tests on January 7. Letters to this
effect, posted from Sharsa sub-district of Jessore District were
sent to the headmasters of both schools. Both the letters bore
the signature of one Abdul Wahab who identified himself as a JMB
cadre in Sharsa. The letters asked the headmasters to introduce
Islamic education and compel students to wear dresses according
Islamic sariah.
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January 6
|
A Gono Mukti Fouz (GMF) cadre
was killed in an encounter between his accomplices and the Police
at Baria village in Barisal District. The extremist identified
as Touhidul Islam (35) of Swastipur village was part of a group
of GMF cadres who had assembled at Baria graveyard when Police
carried out a raid. Police recovered a shutter gun and two bullets
from the spot. The slain extremist was involved in the murder
of businessman Ashraful Islam Bakul on November 22, 2008.
Police arrested another GMF cadre,
Sahjahan Ali along with six rounds of bullets during a raid in
the Bottail area.
Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) personnel
recovered three mortar shells at Jugirampara under Thanchi sub-district
in Bandarban District. Acting on a tip-off, BDR personnel raided
at a zhiri (hilly water area) near Jugirampara and seized the
firearms. Nobody has been arrested in connection with the recovery.
|
January 10
|
Police recovered two bombs from
the compound of the National Academy for Educational Management
in the national capital Dhaka. No one was arrested in connection
with the recovery.
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January 11
|
Police arrested Boma Shumon, a
cadre of the PBCP-Janajuddha, near the Deputy Election Commissioner’s
office at Sher-e-Bangla Road in Khulna city. Boma was wanted in
six cases filed with different Police stations in Khulna city
under Explosives Act in last four years.
Police arrested Manoj Roy, a New
Biplobi Communist Party (NBCP) cadre, from Lakkhikhola village
in the Dakop sub-district of Khulna District. Roy was wanted in
a number of criminal cases.
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January 20
|
The Divisional Speedy Trial Tribunal
in Chittagong sentenced Javed Iqbal alias Mohammad, JMB’s divisional
chief, to 10 years' imprisonment for his involvement in the August
17, 2005 serial blasts case. Javed was also fined Taka 5000. Three
explosions had occurred on August 17, 2005 in Chittagong’s Bahodderhat,
Muradpur intersection and OR Nizam Road areas.
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January 23
|
RAB personnel recovered 12 bombs
from near a school in Muradnagar sub-district of Comilla District.
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January 26
|
RAB personnel recovered two foreign-made
firearms, one bullet and one kilogram of gunpowder from a passenger
bus at Garhikhana road in Jessore. The person carrying these arms,
ammunition and gunpowder, however, managed to escape.
|
January 28
|
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wazed
said her Government would not hesitate to take stringent measures
to curb militancy in the country. In her first question-answer
session in the ninth Parliament, she said, "Whenever action
is taken against militants, it is described as an attack on Islam.
But it is not right. The militants have no religion and operate
beyond boundaries... I have already directed all ministries and
the authorities concerned to find out the militants' patrons,
financers and sources of illegal arms and ammunitions to root
out militancy." Terming militancy a major problem in the
country, Hasina said she has already asked the authorities concerned
to take necessary steps to form 'South Asian Anti-terrorism Taskforce'
in line with the Awami League’s election manifesto for curbing
cross-border terrorism.
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January 30
|
RAB personnel arrested a gang
of three arms dealers from Nimpara of Charghat Sub-District in
the Rajshahi District. Two pistols, including one made in the
United States, with four magazines loaded with 13 bullets and
a revolver with five bullets were recovered from their possession.
The arrested persons were identified as M Rohidul (35) of Helalpur
of Bagha Sub-District and his accomplices Mostafizur Rahman Mostak
(35) and Raju Ahmed Mintu (29) of Shimulia of Charghat Sub-District.
|
February 2
|
A Biplobi Communist Party (BCP)
regional leader, identified as Shamsul alias Ali Robin (32), was
killed at Kotchandpur bus stand in the Jhenidah District. Police
sources said Shamsul had demanded an extortion amount of Taka
500,000 from a trader and asked him to come to Kotchandpur bus
stand with the amount. Being informed by the trader, Police personnel
attempted to arrest the extremist at the location. In the ensuing
encounter, the extremist was killed. Police recovered two shutter
guns, two bombs and three bullets from the encounter site. Police
sources said Robin was wanted in 19 cases including five for murder.
|
February 7
|
Daily Star reported that the Bangladesh
government has received information from international intelligence
agencies of the US, United Arab Emirates, and Pakistan regarding
threat to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s life from international
terrorist organisations who are in league with local extremist
groups. Two cabinet ministers, Commerce Minister Faruk Khan and
Foreign Minister Dipu Moni and intelligence sources confirmed
the receipt of the information which said that the month of February
could be crucial. "She is a target, and there is no doubt
about it," a senior official of a domestic intelligence agency
said. Following the threat alert, all scheduled outdoor programmes
of the Prime Minister were immediately curtailed.
|
February 12
|
A regional leader of the New Biplobi
Communist Party (NBCP), identified as Bikash Kumar Bose, was killed
by unidentified militants at Charbiharia village under Khoksa
sub-district of Kushtia District. Bikash was a close associate
of the NBCP chief Akidil Hossain, who was reportedly killed in
an encounter with the Police on February 1, 2008.
|
February 18
|
The Nilphamari Police arrested
a JMB militant, identified as Mashiur Rahman, an assistant teacher
of the local Rahmania madrassa, from a village in
the Jaldhaka sub-district. A large number of Jihadi books, leaflets
and important letters were recovered from Mashiur’s possession.
He was arrested on the basis of information provided by 13 JMB
militants arrested in Nilphamari, Rangpur and Lalmonirhat Districts
during the last two months, the Jaldhaka Police Station Officer-in-Charge,
said.
Two terrorists of the Democratic
Party of Arakan (DPA), a militant group of Myanmar, were arrested
with two firearms on the Myanmar-Bangladesh border at Beng Charipara
under Roangchari Sub district in the Bandarban District. The duo,
identified as U. Ching Thui and Thui U, confessed their involvement
with DPA. Security Forces also recovered one sub-machine gun with
12 rounds of bullet and one Chinese Rifle with eight rounds of
bullet from their possession.
|
February 19
|
In two separate incidents, the
Sirajganj Police arrested five PBCP cadres, identified as Ershad
Mahmud, Parish, Zahidul Islam, Ashraf Ali and Saiful Islam, from
the Ullapara and Tarash areas. They were wanted in several cases,
including murder, robbery and abduction, Police said.
A Rajshahi court framed charges
against eight JMB cadres in the Rajshahi University (RU) Professor
Muhammad Yunus’s murder case. The accused include Shafiullah Tarek
(a follower of militant leader Asadullah Al Galib) and Shahidullah
Mahbub (husband of the executed JMB leader Bangla Bhai's niece).
Both of them were the mastermind behind the murder, according
to the charge sheet. The other accused are JMB's regional commanders,
Abu Isa Enamul and Golamur Rahman Mostafa, an adherent of Galib's
Ahle Hadith Jubo Shangha, militants Abul Kashem Tufan, Abdul Matin,
Abdur Rahman Arif and Mojibur Rahman.
Bangladesh Government said that
it has mutually agreed with India to hand over the United Liberation
Front of Asom (ULFA) founder Anup Chetia, who has been lodged
in a Bangladeshi jail since 1996, reports The Hindu. "We have
mutually agreed on the handover, now we have to decide on the
formalities of how to hand over," Bangladesh's Minister of State
for Foreign Affairs Hasan Mahmud told CNN-IBN news channel in
Dhaka. The mutual agreement "will also include handover of Bangladeshi
criminals who have fled to India," Mahmud was quoted as saying
in a press release issued by the TV channel. He accused the previous
Bangladesh National Party Government of nurturing terrorist groups
like the Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HuJI-B). "Since 2001, the
BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami had ministers in their Government who
chanted slogans to turn Bangladesh into Afghanistan," Mahmud said.
He also added that "HuJI has cross-border linkages not only with
Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) but with other organisations also". Mahmud
also conformed that the HuJI still has cadres in hideouts in Bangladesh
and the Government was trying to locate them.
|
February 20
|
A JMB cadre in handcuffs exploded
an improvised grenade at the office of the Superintendent of Police
(SP) in Gazipur, injuring at least 13 persons, including nine
Policemen and three journalists. The blast occurred at around
4:30pm when four JMB cadres, including three women, were being
paraded before the media. The SP in Gazipur, Abdul Baten, said
Mamun alias Zahid, the male arrestee, flung himself on the recovered
grenades on display and later hurled the grenade at the Police
and journalists present. The Police had arrested them six hours
earlier and recovered five grenades and a cache of bomb-making
material at Tongi.
The Chief Judicial Magistrate's
Court in Gazipur placed four JMB cadres on a 10-day remand. The
militants, Nasrin Akhter, Zahid, Masud and Atique, had been arrested
along with three grenades, bomb-making material and books on jihad
from a house in East Kalomeshwar village on February 14.
A court in Jamalpur placed three
arrested JMB cadres on a seven-day remand. The militants, Abdullahel
Kafi, Mehedi Iqbal Ripon and Shamsul Haq, had been arrested on
February 14 in Jamalpur town.
Home Minister Sahara Khatun informed
the Parliament of the formation of a three-member probe committee
headed by Deputy Inspector Feneral (DIG) of Criminal Investigation
Department (CID) to look into the JMB activities. The committee
was asked to submit its report within three working days. She
further said the Government is determined to identify people involved
in militancy, their financers and arms and explosives suppliers.
|
February 23
|
The Speedy Trial Tribunal in Rajshahi
sentenced six PBCP cadres to life imprisonment for their involvement
in the killing of union council chairman Abdus Sobhan Chowdhury
in Naogaon on August 30, 2002. The cadres were identified as Babu
alias Sagor, Akbar-1, Abdus Sabur, Zahidul Islam, Abdul Latif
and Chanchal. Each of them were also fined Taka 10,000 each.
|
February 24
|
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina while
addressing a function at Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) headquarters
in Dhaka said that Bangladesh would not allow anyone to use its
territory as a springboard for terrorist activities, reports Daily
Star. "We believe in maintaining good relations with our neighbours
to portrait Bangladesh a peaceful country in South Asia, but we
would resist any kind of unfair steps against us with courage
and boldness", she said. Terming smugglers as enemies of the country,
its people and economy, Sheikh Hasina said no compromise would
be made in smuggling firearms, drugs and illegal commodities.
RAB personnel arrested eight suspected
JMB militants from four villages - Rampur, Bairaghibag, Goyeshpur
and Dullah Chanpur in the Muktagachha Sub-District of Mymensingh
District - on February 24. They were identified as M. Anadul Haque,
M. Abdul Barek and M. Abdul Mannan of Rampur village, Mohammad
Murtaza and M. Saiful Islam of Bairaghibag village, Quari M. Saidur
Rahman and Mohammad of Goyeshpur village and M. Nazrul Islam of
Dullah Chanpur village. They were interrogated at the RAB office
where they confessed to their involvement in militant activities.
|
February 25
|
Daily Star reported that several
left-wing extremist outfits have started regrouping and resuming
their activities in the country's south-western region. The extremist
leaders, who had been evading arrest for the last few years, have
returned to their areas and are leading the regrouping mission.
They are also recruiting fresh cadres to increase their strength,
the report added. Such activities have been reported from areas
of Kushtia, Meherpur, Chuadanga, Jhenidah, Jessore, Khulna and
Bagerhat Districts. Among the extremist leaders who have been
active in recent times area the chief of the Gono Bahini Azibor
Rahman alias Azibor Chairman and his two key accomplices, Anwar
Hossain Anu and Mandar, chieftains of Gono Mukti Fouz (GMF) Shaheen
and Mukul and their regional commanders Swapan Chakraborty, Abu
Taleb and Bakhtiar; and regional leaders of PBCP Janajuddha faction
Badiur Rahman, Anwarul Islam and Atiar.
|
March 3
|
A 10-year old boy was killed and
two other children sustained injuries as a bomb, abandoned in
a police station premises, exploded in the Chapainawabganj town.
Police said the bomb had been dumped into the dustbin and exploded
when three children were playing near the dustbin.
RAB personnel unearthed an illegal
firearms manufacturing factory at Pachsira Bazaar of Kalai sub-district
in Joypurhat District and arrested one person in connection.
RAB personnel arrested two suspected
militants from Konabari in the Gazipur District. The arrested
were identified as Osman Gani (28) and Azizul Hakim (30), residents
of Baghmara sub-district in Rajshahi. A diary was recovered from
their possession.
A tem of RAB personnel arrested
five other suspected militants in the Ambagh area of Konabari.
The militants, hailing from Barguna District, were subsequently
handed over to the Police.
|
March 5
|
A speedy trial tribunal in Rajshahi
sentenced 12 PBCP operatives to life imprisonment for their involvement
in the killing of four persons. All the convicts were also fined
Taka 10,000 each. According to the prosecution, four people suspected
to belong to a rival extremist outfit had been killed by the PBCP
cadres at Foliachapri Beel in the Pabna District on May 11, 2004.
|
March 12
|
The Commerce Minister Lt Col (retired)
Faruk Khan, who has been coordinating the investigations into
the February 25 and 26 killing of 74 people including 52 Army
officers at the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) Pilkhana headquarters,
linked the killings to the militant outfit, the Jama'atul Mujahideen
Bangladesh (JMB). He said some of the BDR personnel arrested for
their involvement in the mutiny have connections with the JMB.
"We have gathered that a number of BDR jawans arrested in the
mutiny case were involved in JMB somehow or other. I won't give
more details as that might alert others having links to the mass
killings," he told reporters.
Government authorised 14 Police
stations in capital Dhaka to bring sedition charges against 27
Hizb ut-Tahrir operatives detained for "distributing provocative
leaflets" over the BDR mutiny. The leaflets had urged the civilians
to "dislodge the government to save the army and BDR from Indian
conspiracies."
Army personnel recovered firearms
and ammunition from the remote Aong Jai Karbari Para village in
Roangchhari sub-district of Bandarban District and arrested two
persons in connection with the recovery. The recovered items included
one M16 rifle, one SLR, 18 grenades, 299 SMG bullets and 91 SLR
bullets. Two sets of army uniforms, one resembling the Bangladesh
army and another of the Indian army were also recovered. . The
arrested youths claimed that the arms had been hidden by the cadres
of the Myanmar based insurgent outfit, the Arakan Liberation Party
(ALP) who had taken shelter in the village.
Immigration police arrested a
suspected JMB cadre, identified as Moulana Munsur Alam (45) from
the international border between India and Bangladesh at Benapole
in the Jessore District. Police sources said that the arrested
person was returning from India after five months. An Indian mobile
SIM card was recovered from the arrested cadre. He apparently
had visited India with a one-month visa and had then stayed illegally
in different madrassas subsequently.
|
March 14
|
Daily Star reports that the JMB
cadres are carrying out their organisational activities from makeshift
camps in different char (riverine) areas and remote villages in
Sirajganj and adjoining Districts. Quoting intelligence sources
the report further said that the outfit has been recruiting new
cadres and training them in make shift camps set up in these areas.
Several such camps have come up the remote areas of Sirajganj,
Bogra, Gaibandha, Rangpur, Dinajpur, Panchagarh, Lalmonirhat,
Joypurhat, Natore, Rajshahi, Chapainawabganj, Pabna, Kurigram,
Thakurgaon, Naogaon and Nilphamari Districts.
|
March 15
|
Gono Mukti Fouz (GMF) outfit distributed
leaflets threatening the law enforcement agencies of 'any action
anytime' including killing of some people at a few places in Kushtia
District. Around 20-25 armed extremists came to Bittipara Bazaar
at about 8:30pm (BST) and made an announcement through loudspeakers
asking people to take their leaflets, said locals. After giving
leaflets to some people in the market area, the cadres fired several
rounds and left. They subsequently distributed leaflets in Ujangram,
Gajna-bipur, Abdalpur, Ratulpara and some other areas and left
the places firing, people said. In the leaflets, the outfit said
that they killed businessman Ashraful Islam Bokul on December
21, 2008 for helping the Police to kill GMF leaders Majid, Nobin
and Saddam, from December 6 to 9, 2008. The leaflets also threatened
to kill several people, including the outlawed Gono Bahini chief
Azibor Rahman alias Azibor chairman, younger brother of the slain
trader Anisur Rahman Jhantu, Obaidul Islam and Amirul Islam.
|
March 16
|
The Cabinet sent back to the Home
Ministry its report on the activities of militant outfits in the
country asking it to give more information about such organisations
and their networks. The report named a dozen such outfits with
information on their organograms, sources of funding, links to
political parties and their operations. Home Secretary Abdus Sobhan
Sikder placed the report that named 12 militant outfits – the
JMB, HuJI-B, Hizbut Towhid, Ulama Anjuman al Bainat, Hizb-ut-Tahrir,
Islami Democratic Party, Islami Samaj, Touhid Trust, Jagrata Muslim
Janata Bangladesh (JMJB), Shahadat-e al Hikma Party Bangladesh,
Tamira Ar-Din Bangladesh (Hizb e Abu Omar) and Allahr Dal.
|
March 19
|
A pipe gun and two bullets of
a rifle were recovered from Shah Mukdum Hall of Rajshahi University
in the Rajshahi District on March 19. The cleaners of the hall
ahd found a pipe gun and two bullets wrapped in polythene on the
ground floor of the hall. The Police later seized the weapons.
Two PBCP cadres were sentenced
to 37-years imprisonment each for possessing illegal arms. The
convicts were identified as Mohammed Ayub Hossain of Brittidebi
village and Mohammed Ashraf Ali of Kacherkol village under Shailkupa
Sub-District. According to prosecution, Police arrested the two
PBCP cadres on August 29, 2003 and had recovered a gun with 32
bullets from their possession.
|
March 20
|
Militants are making threats against
English-language schools in the Bangladesh capital Dhaka, Police
said. Police said principals of several English-language schools
told them they had received threatening letters or phone calls
from militants and parents of students in the schools have subsequently
been alerted of security concerns. The letters asked for money
to support the militants or treat those wounded in clashes with
Security Forces during the recent Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) mutiny
or other clashes. While authorities have not been specific about
the threats another source involved in the issue said they were
directed against students.
|
March 21
|
Police recovered 19 brochures
and some leaflets of the JMB from Hotel Al- Baraka in Khulna city.
|
March 22
|
The first court of Rajshahi Divisional
Special Judge sentenced seven militants of the banned JMB for
life in connection with the August 17, 2005 serial bomb blast
case filed with the Motihar Police Station. The convicts were
identified as JMB’s regional ammunition supplier Torikul Islam,
Rajshahi District commander Shafiullah Tarek Kalam, and a zonal
JMB commander Abu Isa alias Enamul Haque Mithu, Hasan Ali Ekhwan,
Jahangir Alam Abidur and Arif alias Alal. Sheikh Enamul Haq Moni,
a supporter of militant leader Asadullah Al Galib, was convicted
in absentia. He commanded the JMB's western zone in Rajshahi till
2006 in the guise of a journalist. JMB militants had orchestrated
500 synchronised blasts across the country except in one District.
Police arrested two persons, identified
as 28 year-old Jahangir Hossain Mukul, a resident of Avoynagar
Sub District in Jessore District, and 39-year old Abul Kashem,
a resident of Berabalki village in Mymensingh District, from Katia
Uttarpara of Satkhira town, for their alleged links with the JMB.
|
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.
|
March 24
|
RAB personnel neutralised a mini-ammunition
factory inside a madrassa-cum-orphanage in the Ramkeshob
village of Borhanuddin Sub-District in the Bhola District. During
the search operation, nine firearms, 2500 bullets, 3000 grenade
splinters, an explosives blaster, 200 grams of gunpowder, bullet-making
components and equipment, two walkie-talkies, two bows, two remote
control devices, binoculars, four pairs of German-made uniforms,
a book on how to operate firearms and booklets on jihad, Moulana
Moududi and al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden were recovered. Subsequently,
the RAB also arrested four militants, identified as Abul Kalam,
Abdul Halim, Jasim and Moulana Mohammad Russell. Referring to
the seizure, Lt. Commander Mamunur Rashid who led the operation
said, "We've found materials needed to assemble bullets. They
include percussion caps, cartridge cases and bullet heads. And
all these are made in the UK." "The recovery also indicates
they [the militants] have all equipment necessary to make IEDs,"
Mamun added.
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 25
|
Two people, including a Awami
League (AL) leader Ruhul Amin Khan, were wounded in a bomb blast
at his house in the Laxmipur village of Muladi sub-district in
Barisal District. Police said the roof of the room was blown up
in the explosion. Ruhul later said that two burkha (veil) clad
women had visited him asking for some favour and the explosion
occurred after they left the house.
A bomb was recovered at a venue
of the Independence Day programme in Sarwarzan Pilot High School
ground in the Bamna sub-district of Barguna District. The bomb
was hidden under the dais erected for the programme. Police sources
said two pieces of electric cable, two pencil batteries, capacitor
of an electric fan were found wrapped with red tape along with
the bomb and ‘JMB Bomb’ was inscribed on it.
The Jamaat-e-Islami Amir Matiur
Rahman Nizami said that militancy has been invented by the AL
party in Bangladesh to impede development of the country. Addressing
a meeting marking the Independence Day at Dhaka, he said, "Having
failed to accept Islam as code of life, they (AL) campaign against
the leaders of Islamic movement." He said that the Islamists
can never have any link with acts of sabotage.
|
March 26
|
RAB personnel recovered two firearms
and two round cartridges in two separate raids in the East Shaheed
Nagar and Khatiber Hat areas of the port city of Chittagong. The
firearms included a light gun and a single-barrel gun. None has
been arrested in connection with the recovery.
|
March 28
|
Four cadres of the Arakan Army,
a Myanmar-based militant group, were arrested by the intelligence
agency personnel at Roangchhari Jeep Station in Bandarban District.
|
March 29
|
Police arrested a JMB militant
from Baje Goalkandi village in Bagmara sub-district of Rajshahi.
Police sources said that the militant, identified as Fazlur Rahman
(28) was arrested from his house on his return from Maldives where
he had fled to evade arrest. Police further said that the arrested
militant had previously functioned as a aide to executed JMB leader
Siddiqul Islam alias Bangla Bhai and is an accused in several
cases for alleged torture on opponents.
Police arrested three activists
of the Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) in Gopalganj and Thakurgaon Districts
on charges of planning subversive activities and selling controversial
books. The arrested included JeI Ameer of Muksudpur sub-district
in Gopalganj Md Shahidul Islam alias Jahangir Mollah. The other
two arrested were identified as Shujan and his father Zahedul
Islam, an employee of Water Development Board in Thakurgaon.
Police submitted charge sheets
in three cases in connection with the seizure of explosive materials
from the JMB operatives and detonation of an explosive at Gazipur
District Police Chief’s office.
Army personnel arrested three
indigenous people with rifles at Ulum Para under Alikadam sub-district
of the Bandarban District. The arrested persons were identified
as Maan Mro, Thing Wang Mro and Naoring Mro.
|
April 1
|
Law Minister Shafique Ahmed said
122 outfits are involved in terrorist activities in the country.
Addressing a workshop on 'Anti-Terrorism Act 2009' in capital
Dhaka, he said Qawmi Madrassas (seminaries not under Government
control) are turning into breeding grounds of religion-based terrorism.
He further said that "The education ministry is conducting a survey
on madrassas and it is rational to bring all
madrassas
under government's control."
Home Minister Sahara Khatun directed
the law enforcers to take stern action against militants and strengthen
intelligence. Speaking at a function on the occasion of 'Police
Week-2009' held at Rajarbagh Police Telecom Auditorium in Dhaka,
she expressed concern over the existence of militants' hideout
at Daulat Khan in the Bhola District and elsewhere in the country.
"The government will root out militancy from the country at any
cost", she said.
|
April 6
|
RAB personnel arrested Faisal
Mustafa, a top official of Green Crescent, a British-based Islamic
non-governmental organisation for allegedly funding Islamist militancy
in Bangladesh, along with a companion at a house in Gazipur, 40
kilometres north of national capital Dhaka. Colonel Rezanur Rahman
of the RAB said, "So far we know he has dual Bangladeshi
and British nationality and was top man of the NGO named Green
Crescent, registered in Britain." Security forces were on
the look out for Mustafa after a cache of arms and explosives
were recovered on March 24 this year from a madrassa in
a village near Bhola district town, 350 kilometres south of Dhaka.
Bangladeshi authorities deported
a Sudanese national because Police believe he was using an Islamic
charity as a cover to train militants. Abbas Bao, who heads the
local branch of the Kuwait-based charity Revival of Islamic Heritage
Society (RIHS), was ordered to leave Bangladesh. An unidentified
intelligence officer told "We believe RIHS has been giving
money to various militant groups in Bangladesh. We cancelled the
registration of RIHS in the middle of 2007." He added, "He
(Bao) was married to a Bangladeshi woman and he had applied for
citizenship here but that application was rejected." Bao
had been in Bangladesh since 1996.
|
April 7
|
Daily Star reported that 35 out
of the 50 'most-wanted' JMB cadres are still active in four northern
Districts of the country- Nilphamari, Rangpur, Dinajpur and Lalmonirhat.
Police had arrested 15 cadres in the last four months. Police
sources said that three special teams have been formed to arrest
the militants.
|
April 11
|
The Bangladesh Government held
a meeting at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to finalise its strategy
to form a Joint Working Group (JWG) on Counter Terrorism with
the British Government. The proposal for setting up a JWG had
been made by the UK Government during the caretaker Government's
regime. Bangladesh Home Ministry officials said they would also
hold a meeting on April 27 to finalise a strategy for a JWG with
the US. Gradually, the Government will form JWGs with Australia
and Russia too.
|
April 12
|
In a pre-dawn raid, the RAB personnel
arrested eight JMB militants from the Khilkhet area of national
capital Dhaka. Three of the arrested, identified as Abu Sayeed
alias Parvez, Yusuf Al Asadullah Bin Wahidullah of Bogra and Sumon
alias Abdullah of Narayanganj, were trained to be suicide bombers.
One of the other arrested was identified as Abdul Matin alias
Zakir of Munshiganj, brother of Salahuddin, a JMB Majlish-e-Shura
(the highest policy-making body) member who is on death row. Matin
has been trying to reorganise the JMB, RAB sources added. The
recovered items from the JMB cadres included 10,000 lithium batteries,
ten detonators, and five packets of high power gel explosives
besides CDs, audiotapes, computer accessories and manuals, and
books and leaflets on jihad.
|
April 13
|
Police and RAB personnel arrested
seven members of Pakistan-based Islamic organisation Dawat-e-Islami
from a flat at Patharghata area of Chittagong District on suspicion
of linkages with militants. The arrested have been identified
as Sohel Tahery, Mozammel Attary, Kalimullah Qadery, Mahmudul
Hasan alias Mehmud Attary, Boshar Attary, Nurul Azim Attary and
Faruk Attary. Nine passports, four computers, one scanner and
one printer, a number of CDs and VCDs, several booklets and leaflets
on teaching of Islam and some documents were recovered during
the raid. Claiming the organisation truly religious-based organisation,
one of the arrested Nurul Azim said the organisation started its
activities in Bangladesh in 1985 and now covers 22 Districts of
the country and around 70 countries.
Police arrested two suspected
JMB cadres from Boiragibagh in Dullah union of Muktagachha Sub-District
in Mymensingh. Two pistols along with five rounds of bullets were
recovered from the possession of the arrested militants. The arrested
were identified as Russel (28) of Dhaliman village in Trishal
of Mymensingh and Fazlur Rahman (30) of Mir Kumini village of
Tangail.
Investigators claimed that the
Bangladesh-born British citizen Faisal Mostafa, now detained in
Dhaka, has close links with the JMB. Mostafa allegedly met executed
JMB supremo Abdur Rahman several times, and kept in contact with
Saidur Rahman, the now-on-the-run boss of the militant organisation.
On many occasions, Saidur visited Faisal’s Green Crescent
madrassa
(seminary)-cum-orphanage at Ramkeshob village in Borhanuddin
Sub-District of Bhola, where the RAB personnel had discovered
a mini-munitions factory on March 26.
|
April 14
|
Three suspected JMB militants
were arrested along with 50 jihadi publications, including books
written by militant leader and Ahle Hadith Andolan Bangladesh
(AHAB) chief Asadullah Al Galib, in Naogaon District. The trio
were identified as Abdul Karim, a bakery employee, Shahadat Ali,
a tailor, and Hafez Faruk Hossain, a teacher at the Shikarpur
Hafezia madrassa. According to Police sources, the three militants
are also members of the Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) and Abdul Karim
was reportedly the president of Shikarpur union of JeI in Sadar
sub-District in Naogaon. The trio is reported to have confessed
to having links with the outlawed militant outfit JMB under JeI
cover, adding, the three were plotting to carry out subversive
activities on Pahela Baishakh (the New Year).
|
April 15
|
Police arrested a JMB cadre from
Shahebganj Bazaar in the Naogaon District. He was identified as
Hamidur Rahman (46), a close aide of the executed JMB leader Siddiqul
Islam alias Bangla Bhai. The militant was returning home from
his hideout when he was arrested.
RAB personnel arrested a JMB cadre,
identified as Bipul Ahmed, from Rajshahi city. RAB sources described
him also as an accomplice of Bangla Bhai.
|
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.
A JMB cadre, identified as Satkhira,
who was arrested on April 13 from his house at village Kushkhali
in Sadar sub-District, was remanded to five-day Police Custody.
|
April 17
|
Police arrested 31 Hizb-ut Towhid
(HuT) militants, including its Kushtia regional chief, and seized
books and leaflets on Jihad from the Pather Disha office at Bara
Bazaar in Kushtia town, while they were holding a secret meeting.
Police also recovered two kilograms of a white powder, which is
yet to be identified. Police claimed that among those arrested,
six were top-level leaders of the outfit, including two alleged
militant trainers who are also policy-makers of the group. Police
said it was their monthly gathering, where several top leaders
went there to indoctrinate the youth. Police sources said a large
number of trained HuT militants are active in Kushtia, Meherpur,
Chuadanga and Jhenidah of Khulna division. Other sources said
at least 1200 trained cadres of the outfit are active in the region.
Most of them are madrassa students belonging to poor families
and Imams of mosques. According to a press report published a
few months earlier, the security agencies have listed 29 Islamic
extremist organisations for suspected involvement in militancy
and HuT is one of them.
The Jessore Police arrested nine
Islami Chhatra Shibir (ICS) cadres including the party's Jessore
District unit president in Baniargati Girls madrassa, on
militancy charges. They were identified as Jessore District unit
ICS president Abdullah-Al-Mamun and activists Shafiqul Islam,
Iqbal Hossain, Mominur Rahman, Rabiul Islam, Mostaq Ahmed, Hadiuzzaman,
Saiful Islam and Jahangir Hossain.
|
April 18
|
A court in Kushtia sent 31 Hizb-ut
Towhid cadres, including its regional chief, to jail. These militants
had been arrested on April 17 from the outfit’s office ‘Pather
Disha’ at Barabazaar in the Kushtia town while holding a secret
meeting.
|
April 19
|
A JMB regional leader was arrested
from a remote village on the bank of Teesta river in the Jaldhaka
Sub-District of Nilaphamari District. The arrested militant, identified
as Moshiur Rahman (38) of Purba Balagram village, had reportedly
gone into hiding four months ago. Police recovered Jihadi books,
leaflets and other materials from his possession.
Akbar Hossain Khan, a Field Officer
with the National Security Intelligence, was arrested in connection
with the April 2004 seizure of 10 truckloads of arms meant for
the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA). Bangladesh authorities
have revived investigations into the seizures case recently. A
Criminal Investigation Department official said that Akbar Hossain
Khan "is now being interrogated after he was remanded in custody
for two days under a court order following his arrest." The investigations
have revealed that Hossain had hired the 10 trucks under a fake
name to carry the weapons. Investigators had earlier questioned
26 Navy officials, who were serving at that time in Coastguard
on deputation. Officials said there was a deliberate attempt on
the part of the then administration under former Prime Minister
Khaleda Zia’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party-led government to suppress
facts in the case.
|
April 20
|
Six suspected JMB militants, including
two women, were arrested from Jamalpur town. A joint team of the
RAB personnel and Police raided a house at Phulbaria Munshipara
and arrested Abdus Salam (25) of Daspara in Tangail District,
Mizanur Rahman (21) of Gopinathpur in Jamalpur, Mohammad Zakaria
(28) of Krishnapur in Sherpur, Rabeya Begum (23), Tareque Mostafa
Masum (29) and Syeda Halima Yasmeen (age not specified) of Moghbazar
in capital Dhaka. The militants had rented the ground floor of
the three-storey house at Munshipara around one and a half months
ago.
The Government formed a 17-member
high-profile committee to tackle militancy in the country and
mobilise public opinion against militant activities. The committee
which is led by State Minister for Home Tanjim Ahmed Sohel Taj
is comprised of top officials of seven ministries and law enforcement
and intelligence agencies. Home ministry sources said the committee
will evaluate the procedure for investigation into all major subversive
acts carried out in the country.
|
April 21
|
Police intensified security around
the United Nations (UN) and other foreign aid agencies after regional
offices of the UN and International Federation of Red Cross (IFRC)
received militant threats at Barisal. "We enforced tight security
around the UN, UNICEF and IFRC offices, deploying extra forces
and installing makeshift check points," said Nurunnabi Chowdhury,
officer in charge of the Kotwali Police station in Barisal city.
The intensified security came as suspected JMB activists sent
letters to the regional offices of the two organizations, asking
them to shut down their offices or "face death".
Seven Dawat-e-Islami members arrested
on April 13 from at Nijumiah Lane in Patharghata of Chittagong
for suspected link with militant activities were acquitted of
charge and released. The investigation officer maintained that
the arrested persons have no association with any militant organisations
and anti-state activities.
|
April 23
|
Security Forces arrested 22 suspected
militants, most of them women, in a raid in the south-western
Barisal District soon after enforcing stepped up vigil around
foreign missions following threats from Islamist extremists. The
RAB arrested 22 suspected militants, including 21 women, while
they were holding a meeting early morning in the District town,
117-km north of the capital Dhaka.
|
April 26
|
Police arrested a suspected JMB
cadre at Ukilpara Mahalla in the Nagaon town. The arrested militant,
Abdul Gaffer was described as a close accomplice of Bangla Bhai,
the executed leader of the outfit. Police sources said that the
arrested militant had established a torture camp at his house
at the behest of Bangla Bhai in 2004.
|
April 28
|
A top-listed cadre of the PBCP-Janajuddha,
identified as Siddiqur Rahman alias Biplob (28), was killed during
an encounter between the RAB personnel and PBCP extremists at
Ramchandrapur village in the Jhenidah District. A RAB trooper
and a Policeman were injured during the encounter, which occurred
when Security Forces raided a PBCP hideout in search of a trader
who was abducted by the extremists on April 27 from Ganna union
of the District. A revolver, four round bullets, one shutter gun,
one motorcycle, two mobile phones, two hand bombs and a mobile
SIM were recovered from the incident site.
PBCP cadres killed a local leader
of the Jamaat-e-Islami in Ullapara Sub-District of Sirajganj District.
The slain Jamaat leader has been identified as Saiful Islam of
Aligram village who was president of the Baro Pangashi union unit
of the JeI.
|
April 29
|
Quoting intelligence sources,
Daily Star reported that four Islamist militant outfits are regrouping
their cadres in 12 Districts in the south-western region of the
country. 40 top ranking militant leaders are overseeing the activities
of nearly 10,000 cadres in these Districts, the report added.
This information has been provided by 31 cadres of the Hizb-ut
Towhid who were arrested from Kushtia District last week. The
outfits active in these Districts have been identified as the
Allahr Dal, JMB, HuJI-B and Hizb-ut Towhid. Their activities have
been reported from ten Districts of Khulna division -- Kushtia,
Meherpur, Jhenidah, Magura, Chuadanga, Jessore, Khulna, Narail,
Bagerhat and Satkhira and in two Districts of Dhaka division -
Rajbari and Faridpur.
A suspected suicide squad member
of the JMB, identified as Sheikh Shahjahan (43), was arrested
at national capital Dhaka’s Shyampur locality. Police sources
said he was a charge-sheet-accused in the case filed in connection
with a bomb blast at the JMB leader Rifat's house in Sylhet Kotwali
on September 26, 2001.
Abed Ali, a victim of JMB’s torture
campaign in 2004, filed a case against approximately 70 people,
including two former ministers and a parliamentarian belonging
to the BNP, with a court in the Bagmara Sub-District of Rajshahi
District. The BNP leaders have been identified as former Post
and Telecommunication Minister Aminul Haque, former Deputy Minister
Ruhul Kuddus Talukhdar Dulu and former parliamentarian Nadim Mostafa.
Abed Ali had been maimed by the JMB militants after he refused
to pay them extortion money.
|
May 2
|
A GMF cadre identified as Rafir
Uddin, was killed by cadres of the rival Gono Bahini outfit at
Balarampur village in the Kushtia District. A note left on his
body accused the slain extremist of killing a cadre of the Gono
Bahini in Alamdanga months ago.
|
May 3
|
A PBCP- Janajuddha cadre, Altaf
Hossain Fakir (32), was killed by rivals within the same outfit
in the Faridpur Sub-District of Pabna District. Family members
of the slain extremist told Police that a group of armed PBCP
cadres came to his house and shot him dead.
Sahab Uddin, the former Director
(security) of National Security Intelligence (NSI), the civilian
intelligence agency, was arrested from the national capital Dhaka’s
Green Road for his alleged involvement in arranging transport
and equipment for carrying the illegal arms and ammunition seized
in Chittagong on April 2, 2004. Sahab Uddin, a wing commander
of the Bangladesh Air Force who joined the NSI on deputation,
had gone into voluntary retirement soon after the arms haul. The
arrest was made after detained NSI Field Officer Akbar Hossain
Khan in a confessional statement before a magistrate on April
2 said that he hired seven trucks and a crane from Greenways,
a transport agency, for carrying the arms and ammunition on orders
of Sahab Uddin.
|
May 4
|
RAB personnel recovered arms,
ammunition, bombs and bomb making materials from a nursery at
Hamidpur in the Jessore District. The seizure included three locally
made guns, ten bullets, one kilogram gunpowder, 500 gram explosives,
bombs and an unspecified quantity of bomb making material.
|
May 9
|
A cadre of the PBCP-Janajuddha,
identified as Saidur Rahman (32) was killed in a shootout between
RAB personnel and PBCP cadres at Khaskarra village in Alamdanga
Sub-District of Chuadanga on May 9. The PBCP cadres were holding
a meeting at a mango orchad when RAB carried out the raid. A revolver,
three bombs and 20 bullets were recovered from the site.
Police arrested seven Hizb-ut-Tahrir
cadres from the Badda area of national capital Dhaka and recovered
leaflets containing provocative statements over the BDR mutiny.
A laptop, some CDs and a banner were also recovered during the
raid.
|
May 10
|
Police arrested a JMB ehsar (full
time) cadre, identified as Mohammad Yunus (32), at Basail Sub-District.
Police sources said Yunus had been absconding since the country-wide
serial bomb blasts on August 17, 2005. He was involved in arms
loot and assault on Police in Joypurhat, bomb blasts at four cinema
halls in Mymensingh, and bomb blast on Netrakona Udichhi (a cultural
centre) premises.
RAB personnel seized chemicals
and other materials used for making bombs and leaflets of Hijb-ut
Tawhid from Jameya Arabia Khwaja Moeenuddin madrassa (seminary)
compound in the Barisal city. The recovered items include half
a kilogram of chemicals, six capacitors, one six-volt battery,
electric circuit boards, a watch, components of a watch, a remote
control unit, large marbles and splinters and 13 leaflets.
Yunus Ali (32), a JMB coordinator
for the greater Mymensingh District, was arrested at his uncle's
house at Habla Dakkhin Para village in the Basail Sub-District
of Tangail District. He had been absconding since the serial bomb
blasts across the country on August 17, 2005.
|
May 11
|
Left-wing extremists belonging
to the Nakshal Bahini killed one of their colleagues at a crowded
market at Shibpur village in the Atghoria Sub-District of Pabna
District. The slain extremist was identified as Jamal (30) of
Durgapur village.
Altaf Hossain Master (42), a fugitive
JMB cadre, was arrested at his house at Konopara in the Bagmara
Sub-District of Rajshahi District.
|
May 12
|
The Government announced zero
tolerance against militancy, terrorism and any attempt to disrupt
the law and order situation as a 17-member National Committee
on Militancy Resistance and Prevention held a meeting at the Home
Ministry. State Minister for Home Affairs Sohel Taj said a three-phase
programmes will be undertaken in short, medium and long terms
to deal with a twin-problem posed by militancy and terrorism.
"Militancy is under control but that does not mean it does not
exist," Taj added as reports come in almost every day about the
arrest of suspects. He also said since militants operate beyond
geographical boundaries, the Government will share information
and experience with neighbouring countries to deal with the problem.
|
May 13
|
RAB personnel arrested four armed
cadres of the PBCP- ML faction from Radhuni hotel at Moilapota
Road under Sonadanga Police Station in Khulna District. According
to RAB sources, the extremists were caught while receiving Taka
3,000 from a businessman.
|
May 14
|
RAB personnel arrested 'Boma Mizan',
described as the explosives expert of the JMB from a house at
Taltola in national capital Dhaka’s Mirpur area. Mizan’s wife
attempted to evade arrest by exploding a bomb which critically
injured her and two of her children. Around 100 RAB personnel
including top-ranking officers participated in the raid. A pistol,
two bombs, two grenades, several rounds of ammunition, and bomb-making
materials were recovered from the house. According to RAB sources,
Mizan was involved in the countrywide serial blasts on August
17, 2005.
|
May 15
|
RAB personnel neutralised a mini-munitions
factory of the JMB from East Monipur in national capital Dhaka’s
Mirpur locality and recovered a huge cache of bombs and bomb-making
materials. The raid was carried out following information obtained
from detained JMB explosives expert 'Boma Mizan' and his wife
Sharmin, who had been arrested on May 14. The recovered items
included 11 bombs, a pistol, and a huge stash of chemical residues,
plastic explosives, grenade casings, fuses and detonators. The
RAB sources said that the seized materials could be used to make
at least 1,000 bombs.
|
May 18
|
Four suspected JMB cadres, arrested
earlier on May 17 night, were sent to jail by a court in Kushtia.
JMB’s explosives expert 'Boma'
Mizan told his interrogators that the outfit had close links with
Rohingya Solidarity Organisation (RSO), an insurgent group in
the Arakan state of Myanmar. RAB interrogators told that Mizan
and some other JMB operatives received training from RSO arms
experts in a camp near Myanmar border in 2002. In exchange for
the firearms lessons, JMB trained Rohingyas to manufacture improvised
explosive devices (IEDs). Mizan also told that the HuJI-B too
had strong linkages with the RSO.
|
May 19
|
Kotwali Police in the Faridpur
District recovered two firearms and 27 bullets from a water body
in the Sree Angayan area of the town. The items recovered include
one SBLL foreign gun, one shooter gun, 10 shotgun bullets and
17 Chinese rifle bullets.
|
May 21
|
The national probe committee on
Bangladesh Riffles (BDR) mutiny did not find any militant, political
or foreign links to the carnage at Pilkhana headquarters. "BDR
jawans committed the murders on their own. Our investigation did
not find any involvement of outsiders--political leaders, militants
or foreign forces," an unnamed member of the Government probe
body told. According to the 309-page inquiry report submitted
to Home Minister Sahara Khatunon, the BDR rank and file already
had grievances pent up for years. It also said the mutiny was
continuation of the revolts in 1973 and 1991 over leadership in
the border force, added the probe body member. Meanwhile, some
unidentified sources close to the committee said that several
BDR personnel had claimed the mutiny was part of their movement
against discrimination by the Army officers deputed to BDR. In
its report, the committee recommends that those responsible be
tried under the military act for a speedy trial. It also suggests
that BDR personnel should not be engaged in programmes like 'Operation
Dal-Bhat', which was introduced to contain price hike of essentials
during the caretaker Government rule. It also advised a further
inquiry into the claims of foreign links.
|
May 22
|
PBCP cadres distributed leaflets
in Bagmara and Durgapur Sub-Districts urging people to support
their activities. They also pasted posters on walls of houses
and educational institutions at Raghunathpur, Kismat Ganokoir,
Badail, Koyamajompur, Ujankhalsi of Durgapur and Mohonganj, Mandipara
and Jamloi of Bagmara, eyewitnesses said.
|
May 26
|
Security Force personnel arrested
a former official of Bangladesh’s civilian intelligence agency,
the National Security Intelligence (NSI), Major Liakat Hossain,
in capital Dhaka in connection with the 2004 Chittagong arms recovery
case. Liakat was the Deputy Director (Technical) of the NSI during
the recovery and investigators in the Taskforce for Interrogation
Cell said that he played a vital role in the planning of the arms
deal. He had reportedly been dismissed from service in 2006.
|
May 28
|
Daily Star reported that the Islamist
outfit Hizb-ut Towhid is expanding its network in the south-western
Districts of Kushtia and Meherpur under the leadership of Anisur
Rahman alias Chhana. Rahman and his aides are working to revamp
the organisational structure of the outfit with the objective
of working towards establishing Islamic rule in the country. According
to sources, Anisur Rahman of Harekrishnapur in Kushtia District
took over as the regional chief of the outfit following the arrest
of its former chief Mahbubur Rahman. According to the report,
in Kushtia, the militants are active in Kushtia housing, Mollahteghoria,
Jugia, Barkhada, Talbaria and Barkhada areas, whereas in Meherpur
while they have hideouts at Debipur, Chatian, Baout, Harbhanga,
Karamdi and Katdah in Gangni Sub-District. The outfit’s hardcore
cadres are visiting the remote villages with the objective of
carrying out recruitment of illiterate and unemployed youths in
the age bracket of 15 to 25.
Police arrested two Indians, including
a suspected associate of underworld gangster Dawood Ibrahim, identified
as Abdul Rauf Daud Merchant (37), from South Mourail in Brahammanbaria
District, where he had been hiding in the guise of a Bangladeshi
citizen for the last one month. The other person was identified
as Mohammad Zahid. Police also arrested one Kamal Mian who provided
shelter to Rauf. Rauf, who has been convicted for killing the
Mumbai-based music baron Gulshan Kumar, managed a Bangladesh passport
from a broker where his name was mentioned as Shomr Patel. The
Police seized the passport and a driving license of Rauf. Sources
also said another detainee Zahid is a top-listed criminal of India
who had been hiding in Bangladesh for the last eight years. Zahid
arranged the shelter for Abdul Rauf in the house of one Kamal
Mian on the orders of Chhota Shakeel, a close associate of Dawood
Ibrahim.
Police arrested an ICS cadre,
identified as Saidur Rahman alias Saidur, from a Shibir-controlled
student mess near the Rajshahi University campus. Sources said
Saidur, who is a student of the Rajshahi University, was arrested
in connection with two cases filed with the Motiher Police Station
following violence in the Binodpur area near the campus on May
23.
|
May 29
|
Police recovered nine bombs from
the Eidgah field in Brahmanbaria District headquarters. The explosives
were lying abandoned in the field.
|
May 31
|
Police at Shibchar in the Madaripur
District arrested a PBCP cadre on charges of stabbing his mother.
A pistol and a round of bullet were recovered from the possession
of the extremist, Abdul Jalil Mollah.
|
June 2
|
A suspected PBCP-Janajuddha extremist
was killed at village Kuchiamora under Ataikula Police Station
in the Pabna District. Police sources said Shipon Mondol of Kuchiamora
was carrying a bomb, which suddenly exploded, killing him on the
spot. Two other civilians were injured in the blast.
|
June 3
|
RAB personnel arrested three PBCP-Janajuddha
extremists at Jhenidah Sadar Sub-District in Jhenidah. They were
identified as Nazimuddin, regional leader of the faction, and
Asmat and Montu, cadres of the outfit. Five guns, 24 bullets and
eight bombs were also recovered from their possession. During
his interrogation, Nazimuddin confessed about his involvement
in the February 27 killing of Golam Kibria of Ashwasthali village,
the March 8 killing of Enamul Haq of Suti Durgapur village and
the April 16 killing of Abdul Goni of Mirzapur village in 2009.
|
June 7
|
Police in Bangladesh arrested
Arif alias Chachcha, a key aide of fugitive Pakistan-based gangster
Dawood Ibrahim, from the Mohammadpur area of national capital
Dhaka. Arif, one of the top operatives of the Dawood network in
Bangladesh, was living in Dhaka under the false identity of an
Urdu-speaking stranded Pakistani community or Bihari since 2001,
after he fled India to evade a murder charge. Arif has been placed
under an eight-day Police remand under a court order to be interrogated
for information about the network. During initial interrogation,
officials said Arif disclosed that he was in constant touch with
Dawood's second-in-command Chhota Shakeel. He further said the
Dawood network in Bangladesh involves over 100 men including both
Indian nationals and some "influential Bangladeshis". Arif had
married a Bangladeshi woman and he was receiving Taka 60,000 per
month from Chhota Shakeel, intelligence sources said.
Two Parbatiya Chattagram Jana
Sanghati Samiti (PCJSS) activists were abducted by armed cadres
of the United Peoples Democratic Front (UPDF) from Dhalyachhari
in the Rangamati District. The abducted PCJSS activists are Sunirmal
Dewan (28), president of Jibtali unit of the Pahari Chhatra Parishad
(PCP), a student front of PCJSS, and local PCJSS activist Bijimoni
Chakma.
|
June 8
|
Security Force personnel arrested
four UPDF activists along with some arms and ammunition at Dullatali
under Laxmichhari Sub-division of the Khagrachhari District. One
pistol and four bullets were recovered from their possession.
The arrestees were identified as Mongchinu Marma (38), commander
of UPDF Rangamati unit, and the UPDF’s Laxmichhari sub-division
unit members Jiten Chakma (25), Nidonda Chakma (43) and Nikon
Chakma (35).
|
June 9
|
Police recovered five bombs from
the house of one Alauddin at Gazipur village in the Jessore District.
|
June 10
|
Daily Star reported that investigators
have reportedly started questioning the former Director (Security)
of the NSI, Wing Commander (retd) Sahab Uddin, in remand for the
third time in connection with the Chittagong arms haul case. The
Criminal Investigation Department (CID), which is investigating
the case, took the ex-NSI Director for interrogation to CID Chittagong
divisional headquarters at Dampara Police Lines. Sahab Uddin was
remanded for four days on May 3 in arms smuggling case -- one
of the two cases filed under section-25/B of the Special Power
Act and section-19 (ka) of the Arms Act. CID sources said the
investigators would try to know about the origin and destination
of the firearms and ammunition seized in the early hours of April
2, 2004.
|
June 11
|
A Chittagong court sentenced three
JMB militants to imprisonment in connection with the serial bomb
blasts at Bakolia on August 17, 2005. The convicts were identified
as Javed Iqbal alias Mohammad, the JMB ‘divisional commander’
in Chittagong, Jahid alias Delwar and Arshadul Alam. Javed and
Jahid were awarded 10 years imprisonment each while Arshadul was
jailed for five years.
|
June 13
|
RAB personnel arrested a PBCP-Janajuddha
regional chief, identified as Ibrahim Khalil (35), from Baparipara
area of Jhenidah District. Two firearms and three bullets were
recovered from his possession.
A PBCP regional leader was killed
by rivals within the same outfit at Mongolgram village of Faridpur
Sub-District of Pabna. Police identified the slain extremist as
Mostak Hossain alias Mosto (35), of Mannan Nagar village.
|
June 14
|
Police arrested a JMB militant
at Kharagpur village at Shibganj in the Chapainawabganj District.
A shutter gun, five rounds of bullets and four Islamic books were
recovered from the arrested militant Abdul Mobin.
Manikganj District Police arrested
a JMB militant from a rented house at Dashara village. He was
identified as Shafiqul Islam (26) of Salam Bepari of Moamari village
under Nageswari Police station in the Kurigram District. Shafiqul
said that he came to the village to spread the JMB ideology and
recruit cadres about six months ago. Initially he was sheltered
by a leader of the Manikganj District unit Jamaat-e-Islami at
Bewtha and later he rented the house at Dashara.
|
June 16
|
Two suspected GMF cadres were
killed by cadres belonging to the rival Jasod Gono Bahini (JGB)
group inside a female dormitory of the Islamic University in Kushtia.
The slain extremists were identified as Sher Ali (30) and Abdul
Awal (32) of Diknagar village under Sailkupa Sub-District in Jhenidah
District. Police recovered a slip written by JGB cadres claiming
responsibility for the killing.
|
June 17
|
Police arrested two JMB cadres
from two villages of Chapainawabganj District and recovered two
locally made guns, one revolver and four rounds of bullets. The
duo were identified as Sumon Ali (24) of Shibnagar village under
Shibganj Sub-District and Rabiul Islam (22) of Mushribhuza village
under Bholahat Sub-District.
Quoting Police sources Daily Star
reported that JMB militants have started regrouping in the remote
villages of four Sub-Districts in Chapainawabganj. Police sources
said JMB cadres who had fled their localities during the crackdown
after the August 17 serial bomb blasts in 2005 have returned to
their areas in Shibganj, Bholahat, Gomostapur and Sadar Sub-Districts
and are currently trying to recruit new cadres.
|
June 20
|
RAB personnel arrested a suspected
JMB militant from the remote Binnakure village in the Muktagacha
Sub-District of Mymensingh District. The arrested militant was
identified as Hazrat Ali (26), who the Police described as a convict
absconding in a "JMB connected case".
A JMB gayeri ehsar (part-time
member) said in an interview that the militant group had taken
part in the Kansat movement in Shibganj Sub-District of Chapainawabganj
District in April 2006 because they felt betrayed by the then
BNP-led coalition Government. He said 500 local JMB full-time
and part-time members took part in the movement to destroy Government
property and set alight several Government cars.
|
June 21
|
RAB personnel arrested Emranul
Haque alias Rajib, chief of the information technology (IT) wing
of the JMB, from his residence in the Pallabi area of national
capital Dhaka. Another JMB ehsar (full-time member), Abu Bakar
Siddiqui alias Abu Hanif, was also arrested with Emranul Haque.
Five detonators, two casings of grenade, one high resolution binocular,
one laptop, a number of jihadi books and some bomb-making materials
were also seized during the raid.
JMB's Gayre Ehsar (part-time)
members Mohammad Saiful Islam (28) and Shirin Shapla (18), wife
of another detained JMB 'Ehsar' member David, were arrested from
Muktagaccha in the Mymensingh District.
An unidentified senior RAB official
told Daily Star that some key JMB members, wanted in the list
of law enforcement agencies, are now staying in Pakistan for taking
military trainings or joining any militant group in that country.
He said that RAB has information about at least two full-time
JMB cadres who have been staying in Pakistan for the last three
months.
|
June 22
|
A Special Tribunal sentenced six
NDFB militants to 10 years imprisonment for trespassing into Bangladesh
territory along with arms. The militants identified as Shambhu,
Mohiswar, Urarao, Jibon, Harkumar and Khandou, all in their early
20s, had been arrested by the BDR personnel from the house of
one Imrul Sangma at Burunga border village of Nalitabari Sub-District
in the Sherpur District. Acting on their confessional statement,
a large quantity of automatic weapons, ammunition and explosives
had been recovered from near the house.
|
June 23
|
A JMB cadre, identified as Shafiqul
Islam, arrested from a rented house at Dashara village in the
Manikganj District on June 14 provided his interrogators information
about the Islamist outfit Allahr Dal. He said many of the Allahr
Dal cadres are currently active in Manikganj. After the arrest
of the outfit’s chief Matin Mehdi, Ibrahim Ahmed Hero of Pabna
is now heading the Allar Dal. He further claimed that the outfit
does not engage in criminal activity, but merely tries to convince
people to follow the Holy Quran. Police sources subsequently confirmed
that more than 20 cadres of the Allahr Dal are active in Manikganj.
|
June 24
|
Amir Ali of Maddha Jhina village
in Rajshahi District, a victim of the torture campaign of the
JMB lodged a case against 38 JMB cadres in Rajshahi. Among the
JMB militants against whom case was filed were 'advisers' of the
outfit, Lutfar Rahman, Abdus Sattar and Mahtab Khamaru, and cadres
Mostafizur Rahman, Mamunur Rashid, Morshed and Enamul Haque. Armed
JMB cadres had abducted Amir Ali on April 7, 2004 and looted his
house. Amir had to subsequently pay Taka 35,000 for his release.
|
June 28
|
Two Allahr Dal militants were
arrested from Hajipur Gayenpara in the Narsingdi town. The duo
was identified as Saiful Islam Ripon (30) and Mohammad Hanif (28),
both active cadres of the outfit. Jihadi books of the outfit were
recovered from their possession. During Police interrogation,
Ripon said that at least 27 Allahr Dal cadres are working in the
Narsingdi District.
|
June 30
|
The Naogaon Detective Branch (DB)
of Police arrested Shariatullah Simar, one of the top associates
of JMB’s executed leader Siddikul Islam alias Bangla Bhai, from
Baludanga Bus Stand in Naogaon District town. 42-year old Simar,
as the in-charge of Bangla Bhai's torture camp at Bheti Madrassa
in Naogaon in 2004, was involved in a number of killings and incidents
of torture. Bangla Bhai's gang led by Simar killed development
worker Ziaul Haq Zia of Abadpukur in Raninagar at Bheti camp on
November 13, 2004. A gang led by Simar had also killed Idris Ali
Khejur in May 2004.
Intelligence officials along with
local Police also arrested Sajedur Rahman alias Hanif, a regional
commander of the Islam O Muslim. According to the Special Branch,
Islam and Muslim had a plan to dominate an area comprised of several
sub-divisions of Chapainawabganj, Rajshahi and Naogaon. Intelligence
officials also seized some books on Jihad during their raid. Following
information collected from the two arrestees, the Special Branch’s
anti-militancy unit later arrested Jalaluddin alias Jalal, the
Bagmara upazila JMB commander, from Bagmara in Rajshahi District
along with an Indian single-shot gun and five rifle bullets.
|
July 2
|
Daily Star reported that the Special
Branch (SB) of Police in Gazipur arrested Abdur Rahim alias Shahadat,
the chief organiser of "Islam and Muslim", a new offshoot of the
JMB on an unspecified date.
|
July 4
|
Police personnel recovered a Pakistan
made rifle following the confessional statement by an arrested
GMF cadre, Samrat, from Mangolbaria area in Khulna District. Samrat
had been arrested from a hideout in Kushtia town along with four
associates on July 1. Police had recovered three foreign made
pistols and 22 bullets from their possession.
|
July 6
|
RAB personnel arrested four PBCP-Janajuddha
cadres from Earshadpur secondary school ground under Alamdanga
Sub-District in Chuadanga. According to RAB sources, the arrested
extremists Amirul Islam alias Pancha, his wife Rehena Begum, Tahaj
Uddin and Shahidul Islam had abducted a civilian Abul Hossain
on July 3 night from Jhenidah town and had demanded Taka One million
as ransom from his family. They were arrested while collecting
the ransom amount and the abducted person was also rescued subsequently.
A joint team of RAB and BDR personnel
arrested Selim alias Saifullah, the second-in-command and military
affairs commander of the Islam O Muslim, at Belpara in Chapainawabganj.
RAB sources said that Selim was arrested after an encounter with
the Police. A pistol, nine bullets, three bullet shells and two
empty magazines were recovered from the encounter site. Selim,
RAB sources said, had allegedly fled to India after the arrest
of Islam O Muslim’s chief Abdur Rahim alias Shahadat.
|
July 9
|
RAB and Police personnel in separate
raids arrested four GMF cadres in the Kushtia town. Arms and ammunition,
including one LG gun, one shutter gun, one revolver, four swords,
three knives and 65 bullets were recovered from the arrested extremists.
The extremists were identified as Alamin Hossain, Rakib, Imran
Hossain and Sohag.
|
July 13
|
A 'regional leader' of the BCP,
identified as Kadir Gazi, was killed by unidentified assailants
at Siddipasha under Abhaynagar Sub-District in Jessore. The slain
extremist is also one of the main accused in a triple murder case.
Joynal Hossain, a cadre of the
Lal Pataka faction of the PBCP, was killed by his rivals within
the outfit at Kastdah in the Gangni Sub-District of Meherpur District.
Three suspected JMB militants
were arrested from a house at Akur Takurpara locality in Tangail
town. The arrested militants were identified as Abdur Rouf (20)
of Roumari in Kurigram and Mahbub Hasan (18) of Bhuapur in Tangail.
Books on Jihad were recovered from their possession.
Police also arrested the house owner Abdur Rahman, 30, for his
alleged links with the suspected JMB cadres.
RAB personnel recovered two bombs
from the residence of JMB ehsar (full-time cadre)
Abu Musa alias Ali Hossain (40) at West Tootpara
in Khulna District. RAB personnel had arrested Musa and another ehsar Abdus
Salam near Khulna City College on July 7. Police sources said
the bombs were recovered following confessional statement of Musa
during interrogation.
|
July 15
|
The RAB arrested four militants
of the banned Islamist outfit JMB at Rupnagar, Kanchpur in Narayanganj
and in Jamalpur area of the capital Dhaka during the last three
days. The RAB personnel also recovered 38 shells of grenades and
a large number of books on jihad. The arrestees were identified
as Ehsar (full time cadres) Kurri Mohammad Saidur
Rahman and Mohammad Akkas Ali alias Akash (25)
of Muktagachha in Mymensingh District, Gayeri Ehsar (part
time cadres) Mohammad Rokanuzzaman of Jamalpur and member Mohammad
Saidur Miah of Jamalpur. RAB officials said the militants were
preparing to launch grenade attacks. They also said that some
of the JMB cadres have been trying to organise a separate JMB
platform called Islam O Muslim.
A team of the RAB arrested five
cadres of the Janajuddha faction of the PBCP, including a regional
leader, and recovered firearms, ammunition and explosives from
them at a hotel in Chuadanga District. The arrestees were identified
as Sahanur Joardar, regional leader of Shailkupa Sub-District,
Miron, Faruq, Selim and Saiful of Jhenidah District. RAB said
that they came to hold a meeting with Janajuddha cadres of Chuadanga
and adjacent areas in a bid to reorganise the outfit.
|
July 16
|
The RAB neutralised an
arms factory at Debitala under Batiaghat Sub-District in
Khulna District. RAB personnel also arrested three persons on
the spot and recovered three pipe guns, five barrels of pipe gun,
one cartridge, springs, blades and small saws. The arrestees were
identified as Rabiul Islam Akunji, Delwar Hossain and Mintu Sheikh.
They were being interrogated at the RAB-6 headquarters in Khalishpur.
A military investigation found
3000 jawans’ (personnel) involvement in the BDR
mutiny case. Military Intelligence recently completed screening
around 8000 BDR jawans who were inside Pilkhana
during the mutiny, sources said. Through the screening, 3,000
BDR jawans were found involved in criminal offences
during the mutiny, including murder, looting, arson, and torture.The
chargesheet in the case might be submitted in mid-September by
the Criminal Investigation Department (CID). "We're working hard
to submit the charge sheet by August, but it might not be possible
as the task is quite huge," said a source in the CID which is
tasked with investigating the case. A CID investigator said about
100 BDR troops might have been directly involved in the killings
of army officers during the mutiny. The Investigation Officer
of the case, CID's Senior Assistant Superintendent Abdul Kahar
Akand said they arrested 1706 persons so far, most of whom are
BDR jawans who were present at the headquarters
during the mutiny, and 267 of them already gave confessional statements.
In the aftermath of the mutiny, 40 cases were filed in 28 Districts
outside the capital and a total of 1,721 BDR jawans were
arrested on charges of mutiny outside the headquarters.
|
July 17
|
The Detective Branch (DB) of Police
arrested a listed cadre of banned Islamist militant outfit JMB
from a house at Rasulpur in the Satkhira District
town. The arrestee was identified as Hasanuzzaman Hasan, son of
Maulana Mahfuzur Rahman of Tengra Bhabanipur village in Sadar
Sub-District. DB sources said that Hasan went into hiding soon
after the August 17 serial bomb blasts in 2005 and recently, he
came to the area. Talking to journalists, Hasan said he was an
active JMB cadre but later he left the outfit as his father had
asked him to cut off all relations with militancy.
The Pakistan-based LeT has been
active in Bangladesh for the last 14 years, intelligence sources
said quoting one of the most wanted Indian terrorists recently
arrested in the capital Dhaka. Local leaders of the outfit have
links to the network of absconding Indian underworld gangster
Dawood Ibrahim, and also to leaders of other Islamist militant
outfits like the HuJI-B, sources added.
The DB of Police disclosed that
they recently arrested an Indian national who is very close to
the LeT, and is also one of the most wanted persons by the Indian
law enforcing and intelligence agencies. Dhaka Metropolitan Police
(DMP) Commissioner A.K.M. Shahidul Hoque said the arrestee has
been identified as Mufti Obaidullah, who has been staying in Bangladesh
since 1995. "He was arrested from the capital and was
taking preparations for a jihad by organising
Bangladeshi mujahids with directives from Ameer
Reza, a leader of the Jammu and Kashmir based LeT, who is an Indian
national now staying in Pakistan," the DMP Commissioner said.
Obaidullah reportedly took part in the Afghan jihad four
times and he was active in the militancy in India, in collaboration
with militants from Pakistan and Afghanistan. He also collaborated
with Islamist militants of Jammu and Kashmir, Varanasi, Punjab,
and Hyderabad in India, said the DMP Commissioner, adding that
Obaidullah came to Bangladesh to evade Indian intelligence after
the Government of India in 1994 had declared him a most wanted
person. Obaidullah, in detention, said he came to Bangladesh only
to hide, and brought his family into the country later. He admitted
that he is one of the most wanted persons in India, and said four
other most wanted Indians are also hiding in Bangladesh. "In 1994,
Indian commandos went to West Bengal from Delhi by helicopters
to arrest me, but I managed to evade arrest and later left India,"
Obaidullah added. He also reportedly managed to get a Bangladeshi
national identity card, and cast votes in several elections, Obaidullah
said.
|
July 19
|
Rajshahi Police arrested Belal
Hossain, an aide to JMB executed leader Siddiqul Islam Bangla
Bhai, from Raninagar in Naogaon area. Belal was reportedly
on the run for a long time. The Superintendent of Police in Naogaon
said Belal faces several extortion cases and had been arrested
twice before.
Personnel of the RAB arrested
an arms trader and seized a 9-mm Chinese pistol, five bullets
and two magazines from him at Boro Shyampur in the Puthia Sub
District of Rajshahi District. The arrestee was identified
as M. Sohel Rana of Masjidpara in the Chapainawabganj District.
The Government will launch a special
drive in the country's south-western Districts soon to combat
re-emergence of outlawed outfits in the wake of growing incidents
of killings in the region in recent months. Home Ministry officials
said a decision to carry out the operation in 10 south-western
Districts was taken in June 2009 but couldn't be executed due
to the constraint of forces as several thousand Policemen had
to be deployed in the trouble-torn Ashulia to quell the labour
unrest. At least 130 persons were killed in the region in the
past six months in 2009 against only 24 in the last six months
of 2008, said Police sources. A total of 21 people were killed
in the first 15 days of July. At least a dozen outlawed outfits
are active in the region with an unspecified number of illegal
firearms under their possession. These outfits have around 5000
cadres belonging to the following breakaway factions of the PBCP:
Janajuddha, PBCP-Red Flag, PBCP-Communist War, BCP, NBCP, GB,
GMF, Banglar Communist Party, Socialist Party (SP), Biplobi Anuragi,
CCP and Sharbahara People's Mancha (SPM). The Superintendent of
Police of Kushtia District, Shahabuddin Khan, said these splinter
groups are back again and have intensified their activities. "Usually,
various law enforcement agencies conduct drives in the region
separately but a combined operation will surely yield better result,"
he added.
Four senior LeT militants who
are hiding in Bangladesh are also serving as teachers in different madrassas (seminaries)
of the country providing their fake identities like detained Mufti
Obaidullah, Detective Branch (DB) sources said. Of the four, Indian
national Moulana Mansur Ali and Pakistani national Moulana Habibullah,
are teachers of two madrassas in capital Dhaka
while two others are outside the capital. Sources, however, refused
to disclose the names of two other Indian fugitive militants.
The Police are also looking into whether Obaidulla had links to
the August 21 grenade attack on an Awami League rally, and bomb
attacks at Ramna Batamul and Udichi function in Jessore. DB sources
said on the first day of his seven-day remand, Mufti Obaidullah
confessed that the LeT and Asif Reza Commando Force (ARCF) expanded
their networks through former militants who fought in Afghanistan
and Jammu and Kashmir and also through the students of Deoband madrassa.
Sources suspect that qawmi madrassas have a vital
role in setting up of the network as these madrassas gave
them shelter and teaching jobs by accepting fake identities. Besides,
among the militant outfits active in the country, the Indian militants
have closest links with leaders of the HuJI-B, sources added.
|
July 20 |
Two youths were injured in an accidental bomb
explosion in the Sayedabad area of capital Dhaka. Locals said
the incident occurred when the victims, Mohammed Nadim and Jummon
Ali, were preparing the bombs on the 3rd floor of an
under-construction building at Swamibagh.
The RAB Khulna-6 team arrested a young man and
recovered three firearms and 14 bullets from his possession at
Mahmudpur village in the Satkhira District.
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.
The Detective Branch of Police has arrested another
Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) militant from a madrassa (seminary)
in the Dakkhin Khan area of the capital Dhaka. The arrestee was
an Indian national identified as Maulana Mohammad Mansur Ali.
He was also an organiser of the Asif Reza Commando Force (ARCF),
the terrorist outfit responsible for the attack on American Centre
in Kolkata, capital of the Indian State of West Bengal on January
22, 2002. Police arrested him following information obtained from
Mufti Obaidullah, an Indian LeT operative arrested in Dhaka recently.
|
July 21 |
Police disclosed the arrest of another leader
of the LeT, Moulana Habibullah. The Additional Deputy Commissioner
of Detective BRanch, Walid Hossain, confirmed the arrest but did
not give further details. Habibullah is believed to be the immediate
superior of Mufti Obaidullah, who was arrested earlier.
The Gazipur Police recovered a bomb-like object
from a field at East Enayetpur near the Kashimpur jail. Police
said the substance was in a box along with circuit, electric wire
and battery.
Police arrested 2083 persons on various charges
in separate operations across the country in the last 24 hours
as of 6:00am. Ten firearms and 23 bullets were also recovered
during the countrywide operation, a press release of Police headquarters
stated. Three cases were filed under the Arms Act while another
under Explosive Act, it said.
The Satkhira District Police arrested a fugitive
militant of the banned Islamist outfit Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh
(JMB), identified as Montaz Ali alias Momtaz, from a shrimp enclosure
at Sarulia village in Tala Sub District. Momtaz, son of Fazar
Ali of village Kharibila, is an accused in the charge-sheet filed
for August 17, 2005 serial bomb blast case.
|
July 22-23 |
Police arrested a Bangladeshi national with suspected
links to the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) outfit at Kamalnagar
in Satkhira town in the night of July 22. The arrestee, identified
as Muhaddis Obaidullah, was produced in a Satkhira court, which
placed him on a 10-day Police remand for interrogation. His arrest
followed leads from the arrested Indian national and a key organiser
of the LeT, Mufti Obaidullah. Muhaddis is suspected to be an accomplice
of Mufti Obaidullah who had taken shelter at his (Muhaddis) house
in Satkhira after sneaking into Bangladesh in 1995. "We suspect
Muhaddis Obaidullah is a hardcore militant since he had contacts
with LeT organiser Mufti Obaidullah and talked to him even two
months back," Satkhira Superintendent of Police S.M. Moniruzzaman
said. Muhaddis confessed to the Police that he had come in contact
with Mufti Obaidullah while studying at the Sangu Madrassa (seminary)
in India for a year.
|
July 23 |
Unidentified assailants shot dead a cadre of the
outlawed PBCP at Harinakunda in the Jhenaidah District. The victim
was identified as Ajibar Mandal, 40, son of Shefatullah, of Udoinagar
village under Islami University Police Station in Kushtia District.
Quoting locals, Police said a group of four persons took Ajibar
to an isolated brickfield at Teltupi village of Harianakunda Sub
District where they shot him dead.
Another detained Indian national and a LeT organiser,
Maulana Mohammad Monsur Ali alias Maulana Habibullah, confessed
before the Police that he had expertise in making improvised mines
and grenades. Ali said he had training for this when he took part
in the war against Soviet forces in Afghanistan. Intelligence
officials interrogating the two detained Indian nationals said
that both of them used to get funds from the LeT and Asif Reza
Commando Force (ARCF), through hundi (illegal money laundering
mechanism). They also revealed that their main target was non-Muslim
countries where Muslims are tortured.
|
July 26 |
A court in Sherpur District sentenced two JMB
leaders and their three accomplices to life imprisonment for looting
a local Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC) office in
2003. The convicts were identified as JMB Dhaka divisional north
unit commander Salahuddin alias Salehin and Sherpur District
commander Mujahidul Islam Sumon and their accomplices Hasmat Ali,
Kalu and Kashem Ali. The court, however, acquitted seven other
accused as allegations brought against them could not be proved.
A suspected JMB cadre was arrested along with
two Islamic books in front of the S M Hall of Dhaka University.
He was identified as Mamun, who hails from Chandpur District.
Police said residents of the dormitory caught Mamun at about 10:00pm
while he was "moving suspiciously" on the campus. He was reportedly
handed over to Police and later taken to the Shahbagh Police Station
for interrogation.
|
July 28
|
Two top cadres of the PBCP-Red
Flag were killed in a gun battle with the SFs in the Atrai sub-District
of Naogaon District. They were identified as Abdus Salam alias Topu,
who was the Naogaon regional chief of the outfit, and Jahangir alias Jalal,
the outfit’s ‘military affairs commander’ in the Rajshahi region.
Two soldiers sustained injuries in the incident.
Dhaka Police arrested more 1560
persons on various charges in separate drives across the country
in last 24 hours until 6:00am (BST). Three home-made bombs, one
gun and five bullets were also recovered during the countrywide
drive, said a press release. Two cases were also filed under the
Arms Act, it added.
|
July 30,
|
Two persons were killed when suspected
left-wing extremists carried out a bomb attack at Purbabonogram
village in the Pabna District. The victims were identified as
Mohammed Abdur Razzak Pramanik, (52), and his nephew Abdus Sattar,
(32), of Shakharipara village. Police suspect the Janajuddha faction
of the Purba Banglar Communist Party might have launched the attack.
The Dhaka Police arrested 1582
more persons on various charges in separate drives across the
country in the last 24 hours till 6:00am. Six bombs,
three firearms and seven bullets were also recovered during the
drive, said a press release. Four cases were also
filed under the Arms Act, it added.
The Magura District Police recovered
three bombs from a house at Borunatoil in Magura municipality
area. Subsequently, Police also arrested the owner of the house,
Tasiruddin, in this connection.
|
July 31
|
A regional leader of the Janajuddha
faction of Purba Banglar Communist Party was killed in an encounter
with the SFs at Nabdah area in Chuadanga District. The deceased
was identified as Mozam Ali. Subsequently, Police recovered one
pistol and three bullets from the incident site.
|
August 1
|
Arrested Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT)
militant Moulana Mansur Ali revealed during investigation that
the India-based militant outfit ARCF, which works together with
the LeT, supplied grenades to LeT-Bangladesh militant leader Moulana
Tajuddin for the August 21 attack in 2004.
|
August 2
|
Three cadres of thePBCP (Janajuddha
faction), including a regional leader, were killed in two separate
incidents. Regional leader Jahangir Alam and a front ranking extremist
of the outfit, identified as Yarul Islam, were shot dead in an
encounter with the Police at Beel Amla area in the Mirpur District.
Police said the duo were ‘most wanted’ outlaws in the District
and belonged to Khalishakundi in the Daulatpur sub-district of
Kushtia District. Subsequently, Police also recovered two pistols
and 12 bullets from their possession.
Another PBCP-Janajuddha cadre,
identified as Nizamuddin alias Kosai Nizam, was lynched
in the Sarishadanga Bazar area of Chuadanga District. Police said
Nizam and his accomplices went to Sarishadanga Bazar at about
9:30pm to collect the money he had demanded from local businessmen.
The businessmen, prepared to confront the gang, confined him in
a shop and lynched him. Nizam's accomplices, however, managed
to escape. Police also recovered a locally made gun with two bullets
from his possession. Nizam was reportedly accused in nine cases,
including four murders filed with the Alamdanga and Sadar Police
Stations.
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.
The Intelligence agencies have
reportedly come to know about the covert activities of an Islamist
outfit in the country and its close links with the banned outfit
JMB. Intelligence officials said they have only learnt the name
of the new outfit, Jamaat-e-Muslimeen, and its "dawati"
(invitational) activities. The JMB's explosives expert Zahidul
Islam Sumon alias Boma Mizan revealed the name
and the limited activities of Jamaat-e-Muslimeen to the SFs during
his interrogation. He also revealed that a few cadres of the new
outfit joined the JMB recently. Thought he did not reveal any
information about the leadership and detailed activities of the
Jamaat-e-Muslimeen, the SFs suspect the outfit is carrying out
invitational activities under the banner of Dawat-e-Islami at
different mosques in the capital. Dawat-e-Islami is on the list
of 33 militant groups the security agencies have identified either
for having direct involvement in militant activities or for suspected
involvement in militancy in the country.
|
August 3
|
The Madaripur District Police
arrested a woman, reportedly a cadre of the outlawed Sarbahara
Dal, from Bandar area of Shibchar sub-district. While all the
Sarbahara Dal cadres, including its gang leader Delwar, managed
to escape from the incident site, Police arrested Delwar''s mother
Anwara Begum and recovered a 9-mm pistol and five bullets from
her possession. Police also recovered two more bullets during
a subsequent search of the house.
|
August 4 |
A regional leader of the PBCP-Janajuddha, identified
as Shahidul Islam alias Shahadat, was killed at village
Mongolgram of Faridpur sub-district in the Pabna District. Police
said his rivals chopped him to death at a field.
|
August 5
|
The arrested JMB militant, Zahidul Islam Sumon
alias Boma, revealed before the Rapid Action Battalion
(RAB) that the outfit had planned to assassinate either Prime
Minister Sheikh Hasina or former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia in
its failed bid to foil the ninth parliamentary elections in December
2008. Boma was arrested from Mirpur in the capital Dhaka on May
14. Boma also told the interrogators that they had hired about
a dozen JMB cadres from India to execute the plan. Boma also admitted
that the JMB has a network in West Bengal in India which is weakening
gradually. Boma also told the investigators that he used to communicate
with Saif, a significant contact person in West Bengal, over phone.
Saif, who reportedly still works for the JMB in India, is responsible
for conducting Dawati (invitation to embrace same ideology)
activities to recruit cadres for the Indian chapter. The RAB investigator
said, "We had information that Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia might
come under attack at their grand election rallies at Paltan. That's
why the authorities provided them with bullet-proof lecture stand
to ensure their security."
|
August 10
|
Three cadres of the outlawed Biplobi
Communist Party were allegedly beheaded by rival militants of
the outlawed Gono Bahini group in the Kushtia town. Police recovered
three severed heads in front of the office of the Roads and Highways
Department after being informed by the office staff at about 8:45am
(BST). Police said Gono Bahini cadres committed the crime as they
found a note left on the heads by the outfit claiming responsibility
for the killings.
A regional leader of the PBCP-Janajuddha,
identified as Abul Hashem, was hacked to death at Bokshipur village
in the Pabna District. Police and locals said party rivals abducted
Hashem from his village in the night of August 9. The Officer-in-charge
of Pabna Police Station Motiur Rahman suspected that Hashem was
killed due to an intra-party feud. "There were several cases
including two of murder against him," the Officer said.
Police arrested 2755 persons on
various charges in separate drives across the country in 24 hours
as of 6:00am (BST). 11 firearms, three bombs and 16
bullets were also recovered during the drive, said a press release
of the Police headquarters. Three cases were filed
under the Arms Act, the report added.
Detained LeT operatives and Indian
nationals - Mufti Obaidullah and Moulana Mohammad Mansur Ali -
revealed that besides the local chapter of the HuJI-B, some political
leaders have been helping the Pakistan-based militant outfit LeT
to operate in Bangladesh. Investigators are now working to gather
more about them, said sources in the intelligence and security
agencies. Officials involved in the ongoing crackdown on militants
said they have information that some politicians might have been
sheltering LeT cadres as per secret deals with the terrorist group.
Though the Security Forces had detained several LeT operatives
in the past, they formally admitted the outfit's existence in
Bangladesh only in July 2009 after the Detective Branch of Police
arrested Obaidullah and Mansur.
|
August 11
|
The RAB personnel arrested two suspected cadres
of the outlawed Sarbahara Party along with a foreign-made pistol
and some bullets from the house of Karatia Union Parishad Chairman
Khalekuzzaman Chowdhury Maznu at Karatia Purbopara village in
the Tangail District. The duo was identified as 25-year old Ashikuzzanman
Chowdhury alias Apu and 20-year old Ashraful Islam Talukdar
alias Rony.
|
August 12
|
Rapid Action Battalion arrested five cadres, including
a regional leader of the outlawed Gano Bahini, from Dhanuaghata
village under Faridpur sub-district in Pabna District and recovered
a shutter gun, four bullets and four sharp weapons from their
possession. The arrestees were identified as Selim Reza alias
Salim, Nayeb Ali, Amin Uddin, Saheb Ali and Sumon Ali, all hailing
from Faridpur and Chatmohar Sub Disticts.
|
August 16
|
A severed head was recovered at a Kushtia village
less than a week after Police had recovered three severed heads
from the District town on August 10. Informed by the locals, Police
recovered the cut-off head wrapped in a polythene bag lying beside
the Kumarkhali-Kuthibari road near Choraikol village in Kumarkhali
sub-district. The deceased could not be identified immediately.
Police said they were searching for the body. On August 10, three
cadres of the BCP were beheaded by their rivals Gono Bahini outfit
in the Kushtia town.
The Divisional Speedy Trial Tribunal in Chittagong
on August 16 sentenced the Chittagong divisional chief of the
JMB, Javed Iqbal alias Mohammad, and one of his aides to
10-years rigorous Imprisonment in the August 17, 2005 Jhenidah
serial bomb blasts case. Javed also faces a few more cases in
the Chittagong Divisional Speedy Trial Tribunal that has already
awarded him a total of 195 years of imprisonment in several cases,
said Public Prosecutor Ayub Khan.
|
August 17
|
Police recovered 11 bombs from Battala Bazaar
in under Muktagachha Sub District. Locals said that the incident
might have links with the Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB)
as the locality is a JMB infested area.
A regional leader of the outlawed Lal Pataka faction
of the PBCP, identified as Rana alias Babu, was arrested
in Chuadanga District. One rifle, one shutter gun, six bullets
and four bombs were recovered from his possession. Rana was recently
organising the outfit in Kushtia and Chuadanga, Police and Rapid
Action Battalion sources said. Accused in at least a dozen cases,
including five for murder in Kushtia and Chuadanga, Rana was reportedly
a listed militant in the area.
|
August 18
|
Police arrested 1,998 people on
various charges in separate drives across the country in 24 hours
as of 6:00am (BST). 16 firearms, 13 explosives and 70 bullets
were also recovered during the drive, said a press release of
Police headquarters. Some 387 cases were filed.
Five militants belonging to the
National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) were arrested from
the Khagrachari area in Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) District.
They were identified as Oadhish Narzary (35), Pabitra Goyari (25),
Dhiren Khakori (25), Jonathan Basumatary (35) and Pradeep (30).
Security sources said that the
anti-talks faction of the NDFB, a group active in the State of
Assam in north east India, headed by Ranjan Daimary have strong
bases in Bangladesh. The outfit has at least 100 cadres in their
bases in Bangladesh. Though the exact number of camps of the outfit
in Bangladesh is yet to be ascertained, it is believed that the
outfit is running at least 10 bases and some of the bases are
in the Khagrachari area from where the five militants were reportedly
arrested
.
|
August 19
|
A ‘divisional commander’ of the
outlawed PBCP-Janajuddha, identified as Lutfor Rahman, was killed
in encounter with the SFs at Chhoygharia in the Satkhira District.
Officer-in-Charge of the Sadar Police Station, Kamruzzaman, said
that Lutfor was wanted in 12 cases, including three of murder,
filed in the Tala, Dumuria, Kalaroa and Sadar Police Stations.
|
August 22
|
A regional leader of the PBCP-Janajuddha,
identified as Naharul Islam, was killed in an encounter
with the Police at Jagannathpur village in Kushtia District.
After an hour-long encounter, Police recovered the dead body of
Naharul along with one LG gun and 24 bullets from the incident
site. However, the other militants managed to escape. Naharul was
reportedly accused in at least 10 cases, including six of murder,
Police said.
|
August 24
|
Nine ICS cadres of the Rajshahi University (RU)
unit were arrested on charges of stabbing two BCL activists on
June 10.
|
August 25
|
Kushtia Police engaged in an encounter with the
cadres of the Gono Bahini at Milpara Shashan Ghat, as the cadres
were crossing the Gorai River on boat around 4:30am (BST). Police
recovered the dead body of regional unit 'commander' of the outfit
Shahinur from the spot after his accomplices fled. Police also
recovered one locally-made gun and 15 bullets from the spot. Kushtia
Police said that Shahinur was accused of extortion, mugging and
looting on the river ways.
In Magura District, Tota, a regional leader of
the outlawed Sarbahara Party, was shot dead at Harishpur. Police
said a joint team of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and Police raided
a jute field in the area where Tota and his accomplice were holding
a secret meeting around 2:00am. While Tota was killed, the rest
of the cadres managed to flee. Subsequently, Police recovered
a pistol, three rounds of bullets and two sharp weapons from the
spot. Tota was an accused in 14 cases on various charges including
murder, toll collection, and kidnapping.
A cadre of the PBCP-Janajuddha, identified as
Abdus Salam, was killed by party rivals at Chithuliavillage under
Dogasi Union in Pabna District. Police said rival cadres chopped
Salam to death near his residence and threw his body in a nearby
pond.
|
August 26
|
A regional leader of the Red Flag faction of the
PBCP, identified as Rahat Khan alias Nipu alias
Zia, was killed in a encounter with Policemen at 2:30am (BST)
at Dearha village in the Khulna District. He was wanted in six
cases, including two for murder and two for robbery. Subsequently,
Police recovered a gun, four rounds of ammunition and some leaflets
from the spot.
A Bangladeshi court in northern frontier District
of Sherpur awarded 10 years of imprisonment to a ULFA militant,
identified as Russel Sangma, for illegally possessing a huge quantity
of ammunition. Sangma also faces another charge of intruding into
Bangladesh, the trial for which is yet to be started. BDR troops
arrested Sangma in September 2007 from a frontier village and
seized large quantity of ammunition kept in two plastic barrels.
|
August 27
|
SFs arrested six left-wing extremists from three
south-western Districts as a crackdown on the extremists continued
amid an increasing number of killings in the region.
|
September 1
|
The arrested top leader of the
India ARCF, Mufti Obaidullah, revealed during interrogation that
militants fighting in Jammu and Kashmir have regularly used Bangladesh
as a transit point to travel to Pakistan and have built safe havens
in that country to shelter and train militants for terrorist operations
in the region. Obaidullah said Pakistani militants crossed the
Line of Control (LoC) to enter India to run terrorist operations
and fight with Government forces in Jammu and Kashmir and then
cross the border into Bangladesh to fly back to Pakistan. "As
it was tough to cross back to Pakistan through the India-Pakistan
border, the Mujahideen would cross to Bangladesh and then left
for their destinations using fake passports and visas," the interrogation
statement said. Obaidullah also said he had built a safe-home
in Habiganj in 2002 to shelter fugitive terrorists, and recruit
and train Bangladeshis to take part in terrorist attacks in Jammu
and Kashmir, India and Pakistan.
|
September 2
|
Police arrested a leader of a
local 'community policing forum', identified as Ismail Hossain alias Panger,
for his alleged links with the Gono Bahini in the
Kushtia District. Meanwhile, a group of people led by Jatyia Samajtantrik Dal (JSD)
leaders claiming him to be a JSD activist tried to besiege the KushtiaDeputy
Commissioner's office to press for his release. 20 people were
injured as Police dispersed them by charging baton.
The Police arrested three Hizb-ut-Tahrir
militants from the Naiorpul area of Sylhet city while they were
distributing leaflets, reports Daily Star. They were identified
as Farhan Habib of the city's Ambarkhana area, Imranur Rahman
of Kuarpar and Ziaur Rahman Piyas of Faridabagh.
|
September 3
|
A court in Sherpur sentenced
six JMB cadres to life imprisonment for their involvement in serial
bomb blasts in Sherpur town on August 17, 2005. The convicts were
identified as JMB's Dhaka ‘divisional commander’ Salahuddin alias
Salehin, JMB's Sherpur ‘district commander’ Mujahidul Islam Sumon,
and JMB cadres Rafiqul Islam, Abdul Mannan alias Paru Miah, Nazmul
Islam alias Roman and Mostafizur Rahman alias Linkon. The court
acquitted another accused, Humayun Kabir Shawkat, as charges brought
against him were not proved.
|
September 4
|
Three cadres of the PBCP-Janajuddha
were arrested during an encounter with the Police in the Pabna
District. The arrestees, identified as Harun, Ruhul Amin and Rifat,
had received injuries in the encounter. The rest of the militants,
however, managed to escape from the incident site. Police recovered
two bombs, three rounds of bullets and some sharp weapons from
the incident site. Nibas Chandra Majhi, the Superintendent
of Police in Pabna District, said the arrestees are listed criminals
and also cadres of the PBCP-Janajuddha outfit.
The RAB troopers arrested a militant
of the JMB, identified as Habibur Rahman Habi,from Krishnapur
village under Kurigram municipality. He was sent to Police custody
after being produced before the Chief Judicial Magistrate in Kurigram.
He was reportedly an associate of Matin Mehedi, second-in-command
of the executed JMB chief Sheikh Abdur Rahman.
|
September 6
|
Police arrested three youths,
including two schoolboys, at Hossainpur town in the
Kishoreganj District for their involvement with a militant outfit.
The arrestees were, identified as Omar Faruque, 20, a class
10 student of Barhatta CKP Pilot High School,
Sheikh Parvez, 18, a student of class nine of the same school
and Anik Ahmed, 20. Superintendent of Police of Netrakona Nazmul Alam
said the arrestees might have connection with a militant outfit.
Motihar Police arrested a
ICS leader from the dormitory of the Rajshahi University on
charge of attacking a Police camp in theBinodpur market near Rajshahi University on
May 23. The arrestee, identified as Ekramul, is the president
of ICS Sayeed Amir Ali Hall unit. Tofazzel Hossain,
Officer-In-Charge of the Motihar Police Station, said
they arrested Ekramul in two cases filed against ICS
cadres for attacking Police camp and Policemen on that day (May
23).
A leader of the Gono Bahini outfit,
identified as Abdul Hannan alias Hanu, was
shot dead by the Police during an encounter, when its cadres were
holding a meeting at Anandapur in Mirpur area of
Kushtia District. While Abdul’s accomplices managed
to escape, a gun and five bullets were recovered from the encounter
site. Hanu was reportedly accused in several cases including
three for murder filed in Kushtia and Chuadanga Police
stations.
|
September 7
|
A cadre of the Gono Bahini,
identified as Asraful Islam alias Asha Mondol,
was killed in an encounter with the Police at Durbachara area
in Kushtia District. Police also recovered a pipe gun
and two bullets from the incident site. Asraful was accused in
seven cases, including two for murder filed with the Kushtia Sub
District and Islamic University Police Stations.
|
September 9
|
Police arrested a JMB militant,
identified as Abdul Hakim (20), son of Zahirul Islam of Gobindapur
village in the Gaibandha District, from Barabari Chowdhurypara
in the Thakurgaon District. Officer in-Charge (OIC) of the Pirganj
Police Station said that the Dhaka Metropolitan Police came to
the District and raided one Moktarul Alam's house at Barabari
Chowdhurypara at about 1:00am (BST) and arrested Abdul Hakim and
Moktarul Islam. After interrogation, Police freed Moktarul and
arrested Abdul Hakim.
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.
|
September 10
|
A regional leader of the PBCP-Janajuddha,
identified as Tukun, was killed at Khalishakundi village in the
Daulatpur sub-district of Kushtia District. Police also recovered
one LG, five bullets and a sword from the spot. Tukun was accused
in six cases, including four for murder filed with Daulatpur and
Mirpur Police Stations.
Security agencies have prepared
a fresh list of top outlaw cadres, their kingpins and political
mentors in the country's south-western region as they launched
a drive on September 5 to arrest the criminals. Names of 280 armed
operatives of different outlaw and criminal groups, 80 linchpins
and as many as 150 political mentors have been included in the
list. The fresh list includes the most wanted criminals from terrorist
outfits and criminal gangs, their armed cadres active in the region
and their godfathers including a good number of leaders holding
posts in major political parties, sources said. Sources said the
process of preparing a fresh list started after directives from
the Government amidst escalating violence and killings in the
outlaw-infested 10 Districts of the southwest. At least 269 people
have died, mostly by different militant outfits, in the 10 south-western
Districts since January 2009. Kushtia tops the list of killings
with 70 murders followed by 49 in Jhenidah, 46 in Jessore, 30
in Khulna, 26 in Chuadanga, 12 in Meherpur, 11 in Satkhira, nine
in Bagerhat, and eight each in Narail and Magura. The list prepared
in 2004 had names of some 2,200 criminals of 12 militant outfits
and crime rackets along with a number of their political patrons
while the second list prepared in September-November of 2008 included
names of 2,847 criminals and their mentors.
|
September 11
|
A GMF leader, identified as Ziko
Parvez alias Killer Samrat (36), was killed in
an encounter with the SFs at Baliapara village in Kushtia District.
Police recovered one shutter gun and three bullets from the spot.
Police recovered four bombs from
a house at Puriaghupi village under Sharsha Sub-District in Jessore
District.
|
September 13
|
Two left-wing extremists were
shot dead in separate encounters with Police in the Kushtia District.
The duo was identified as Gono Bahini leader Marfat Hossain, 40,
and GMF leader Biplob, 33.
A Chuadanga court sentenced four
left-wing extremists to life imprisonment for killing the Jatyia
Samajtantrik Dal (JSD) Alamdanga unit president Majid in 1999.
The convicts were identified as Nuruzzaman Laltu, founder of Banglar
Communist Party (BCP), party cadres Atiar Rahman, Goljar Hossain
and Nazrul Islam. Among them, Nazrul is still at large while the
remaining three are in Chuadanga jail.
Police pressed charges against
six militants, including two top leaders of Islam-o-Muslim (IoM),
the new JMB offshoot, revealing that they were raising the secret
outfit and accumulating small weaponry from India to kill opponents
of the JMB, Daily Star reported. Police submitted
the charge sheet to the third court of judicial magistrate against
the accused Abdur Rahim alias Shahadat, 32, chief
of IoM and former JMB's Rajshahi ‘regional commander’, and Selim alias Saifullah alias Harun
Mistri, 26, chief ‘military commander’ and mastermind of the outfit,
former JMB's military commander Abdul Momin and Abdur Rakib alias Sumon,
28, of Chapainwabganj, Jalal Uddin alias Sagor,
38, of Naogaon and Hafez Sajedur Rahman alias Hanif
of Bagmara.
|
September 14
|
Samir Uddin (38), a ‘commander’
of the Gono Bahini outfit, was shot dead by the Police in Kushtia.
While his accomplices managed to escape, one LG gun and two bullets
were recovered from the from the incident site. Samir was reportedly
an accused in seven cases, including three murders.
|
September 15
|
A regional leader of the Sarbahara
Party, identified as Babul Sardar alias Babul
(35), was killed in an encounter with the SFs in Batajhor area
under Gouronodi Sub District of Barisal District.
|
September 16
|
An armed cadre of the BCP outfit,
identified as Mashubar Halder (40), was killed in an encounter
with the Police at Gutudia village under Dumuria Sub-District
in Khulna District. Two Policemen, Sobhan and Tajul
Islam, were also reportedly injured during the incident. Police
also recovered a point 22-bore pistol and three bullets from the
spot.
|
September 20
|
A regional leader of the Janajuddha
faction of the PBCP, identified as Sukkur Ali alias Boma
Sukkur (30), was killed in an encounter with the Police at Nandanpur
in Pabna District. Police also recovered one shutter
gun, two bullets from the spot.
|
September 22
|
Police arrested a GMF cadre,
identified as Fazlur Rahman (38), with firearms
in Kumarkhali. Police also recovered a light
gun and two bullets from his possession. Police said Fazlu was
wanted in four murder and seven extortion cases.
|
September 24
|
Police arrested three persons
at Shantipur in the Khagrachhari District for their
suspected involvement with the militant outfit JMB. They
were identified as Mohammad Delwar Hossain (40),
Mohammad Zahid (25) of Comilla, and Mohammad Yunus Miah (18).
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 Police 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.
|
September 25-26
|
Three PBCP cadres were killed
in encounter with the SFs in the capital Dhaka and Kushtia District.
They were identified as Mohon Malitha, Aroz Ali and Edu Mondol.
|
September 26
|
RAB neutralised a training camp
of the JMB in a forested remote hill area at Matiranga in Khagrachhari District.
During the raid, the RAB personnel arrested Abdur Rahim alias Saifullah,
‘second-in-command’ of the JMB in Chittagong division,
and recovered powdered explosives, 14 grenade casings, 20 detonators,
49 books on jihad, 27 batteries and around 1 kilogram barbed
wire.
|
September 27
|
Police arrested four JMB cadres,
identified as Delwar Hossain alias Sajib (32),
and Yunus Ali alias Yunus at Shantipur, Delwar Hossain Dulal (23),
in Gazipur and Monir alias Ripon
in Comilla.
|
September 28
|
Eight bombs were recovered from
behind an office in Abhoynagar Sub-District in Jessore District.
|
September 29
|
A regional leader of the PBCP-Red
Flag, identified as Kamirul Islam alias Hamidul (45),
was killed in an encounter with Police at Zuranpur village
in Chuadanga District. Two Policemen were also reportedly
injured during the encounter. Police recovered one pipe gun and
one shutter gun and two bullets from the encounter site.
According to Police sources, 23
militants have been killed in encounter in 10 south-western Districts
during the month-long special combing operation that ended on
September 29. According to a source in Khulna Range
DIG office, about 600 armed cadres of three underground organisations of PBCP-Janajuddha,
PBCP-Red Flag and New Biplobi Communist Party are engaged
in extortion and other criminal activities in 10 Districts of Khulna division.
The parliamentary standing committee
on Defence Ministry on September 29 said that Bangladesh and India had
agreed to erect as many as 320 pillars on their border. It also
said there is no more dispute with Myanmar, another neighbouring
country, over the demarcation of land boundary as both the countries
had agreed to set up a total of 314 pillars on the border.
|
September 30
|
A regional leader of the Sarbahara
Party, identified as Habibur Rahman Mithu (32), was injured in
an encounter with the RAB at Barisal District After the encounter,
a locally-made gun and three bullets were recovered from the incident
site.
|
October 1
|
A regional leader of the PBCP-Janajuddha,
identified as Riazul Haq Masud alias Bidi Masud
(32), was killed in an encounter with the Police at Chulkathi
Palpara village. During the encounter four Police and RAB members
were also injured. Police recovered three firearms, one sharp
weapon, 29 rounds of bullet and five cartridges from the encounter
site. Police said that Masud was wanted in 15 cases.
|
October 3
|
Two left-wing extremists were
killed in separate encounters with the Police in the Khulna and
Chuadanga Districts. Two Policemen were also injured in the encounter
in Khulna District. The slain extremists were identified
as Abu Sayeed Sarkar alias Ranga Sayeed, a cadre
of the New Biplobi Communist Party, and Abdur Rashid alias Mollah
Rashid, a regional leader of the PBCP-Janajuddha.
|
October 5
|
Five JMB militants were sentenced
to 14 years Rigorous Imprisonment in a case under the Explosive
Substances Act in Kishoreganj District.
|
October 6
|
A regional leader of the GMF,
identified as Korban Ali (42), was killed in an encounter with
the Police at Ghoshbila village in the Alamdanga sub-district
in Chuadanga District. Subsequently, Police recovered a shutter
gun and 10 bullets from the encounter site. Korban was accused
in six cases, including four for murder, Police said.
Five persons were injured in an
accidental bomb blast at Jhitkapota village under Moheshpur sub-district
in Jhenidah District.
|
October 7
|
Two left-wing extremists were
killed in two separate encounters with the SFs in the Kushtia and
Pabna Districts. The deceased were identified as Sunnot Ali
(36), a top cadre of the Gono Bahini, and Moktar Hossain (30),
a ‘regional commander’ of the Sarbahara Party. Sunnot,
accused in six cases, was reportedly a close associate of Obaidul alias Lal Bhai,
a ‘military commander’ of the Gono Bahini. Moktar was
reportedly accused in a number of cases, including three murders.
|
October 8
|
Three left-wing extremists were
killed and four Policemen injured in separate encounters in the
Kushtia, Khulna and Bagerhat Districts. The deceased were identified
as Sakmol (40), a top cadre of the Gono Mukti Fouz (GMF), Delwar
Hossain Delu alias Apu (30), a cadre of the PBCP-Red
Flag, and Aslam Khan (40), a cadre of the PBCP-Janajuddha.
|
October 9
|
Two left-wing extremists were
killed in separate encounters with the Police in the Kushtia and Khulna Districts.
Two Policemen were also injured during the encounter in Khulna.
The dead were identified as Amirul Islam Khan (40),
a top cadre of the GMF, and Nirapada Bairagi (50),
‘operations commander’ of the New Biplobi Communist
Party in Khulna.
|
October 10
|
A regional leader of the BCP,
identified as Maznu Mondol alias Abdullah (36),
was shot dead in an encounter with Police at Barabaria village
in the Kushtia District.
|
October 11
|
A court in Chittagong District
sentenced four JMB militants to five years rigorous imprisonment
each in an explosives case filed with the Cox's Bazaar Police
Station. The convicts were identified as JMB Chittagong divisional
chief Javed Iqbal alias Mohammad, explosive expert Zahidul
Islam alias Boma Mizan, Ayub Ali alias Abu Jar and Naimuzzaman
alias Shohag. With this verdict, the JMB Chittagong 'divisional
chief' Mohammad has so far been awarded 229 years' imprisonment.
|
October 12
|
A regional leader of the GMF,
identified as Azbahar Hossain (40), was killed
in an encounter with the Police at Kumarkhali sub-District
in the Kushtia District.
Police arrested a HuJI-B militant,
identified as Abu Obaida alias Harun at Bhuiyan Bazar of
Sonagazi sub-District in Feni District.
A court in Netrakona sentenced
three JMB militants to 39 years rigorous imprisonment each for
a bombing in the town on August 17, 2005. The convicts were
identified as Kawser Ahmed alias Yunus, Kawser Alam
Sumon and Amanullah.
|
October 14
|
Police arrested 21 left-wing extremists,
on various charges, from different parts of all the nine sub-
Districts of Bagerhat District during a two-week special
drive from September 25 till October 8. Six personnel of the Police
and RAB were injured during these operations. The arrested outlaws
belonged to the Janajuddha and Red Flag factions of the PBCP.
The Government has reportedly
directed the Security Forces to maintain vigilance to prevent
any kind of subversive activities by the ULFA in the country.
Referring to the recent crackdown on militants, the State Minister
for Home, Shamsul Haque Tuku, told reporters
that no militants would be able to escape the dragnet, according
to ATN Bangla.
|
October 19
|
Three JMB militants were produced
in a court in the Khagrachhari District and sent to jail after
a scheduled hearing. The three were identified as Mohammad Abdur
Rahim alias Zahid alias Saifullah (25), second in
command of Chittagong division, DelwarHossain (40) and Mohammad
Yunus Miah (20).
The Bangladesh Government is reported
to have launched a operation for arresting some cadres of two
Indian militant outfits - the ULFA and KLO, including its ‘chief’
D.K. Roy. In the light of information extracted from ‘military
commander’ of the ULFA Bimol Roy during his interrogation at the
Task Force Interrogation (TFI) cell Security Force personnel are
trying to arrest the militants, sources close to the TFI cell
said.
|
October 20
|
A regional leader of the PBCP-Janajuddha,
identified as Jamal Uddin (38), was killed in an encounter
with Police in Chatmohor sub district in Pabna District.
Police arrested Hanif and Shahjahan,
cadres of the Red Flag faction of the PBCP from Chatmohor.
The Matiranga Police arrested
a suspected JMB militant, identified as Mohammad Shamsu Mia, from
Shantipur area in the Khagrachari District.
A court in Chittagong District
sentenced five JMB militants to eight years' rigorous imprisonment
each in the August 17, 2005 serial bomb blast case filed in Cox's
Bazaar after hearing 24 witnesses.
The PBCP cadres distributed hundreds
of leaflets and pasted posters at different places in the nine
sub-districts of Sirajganj District, creating panic among the
locals. "The Awami League has cheated people in the name of bringing
change in the country. Before the election, they promised for
a change and a digital Bangladesh. But now they have spread acts
of criminalism, tender manipulation and looting people's property,"
read the leaflets.
|
October 21
|
Police arrested four militants
of the PBCP-Janajuddha along with bombs in the Ataikula sub-district
of Pabna District. Acting on a tip-off, Police personnel raided
a place at Bulbaria village where some PBCP-Janajuddha faction
cadres were holding a meeting at around 3:00pm (BST). Police arrested
four cadres while the others managed to escape. Those arrested
were identified as Rafique Kamar, Shahin, Imrul Islam, and Mohammed
Nazrul Islam.
The RAB personnel recovered five
bombs from a mango orchard at Chawkalampur village.
|
October 22
|
The Bangladesh Government banned
the Hizb ut-Tahrir in the interest of public security. "The organisation
has been banned as it has been carrying out anti-State, anti-Government,
anti-people and anti-democratic activities for long in the country,"
Home Minister Sahara Khatun said. The Hizb ut-Tahrir is an international
Islamist political party founded in Jerusalem in 1953.
|
October 24
|
SF personnel recovered an unexploded
grenade from the Rajbari Stadium in the town in Rangamati District.
The RAB and Police arrested six
youths at Amjhupi village in the Meherpur District for suspected
involvement with militant outfits. The villagers alleged that
they are operatives of the banned Hizb ut-Tahrir Bangladesh,
The Dhaka University’s syndicate
has decided to send Mohiuddin Ahmed, Associate Professor of the
Institute of Business Administration and chief coordinator of
Hizb ut-Tahrir Bangladesh, on forced leave indefinitely for his
involvement with the banned outfit.
|
October 25
|
The RAB arrested a cadre of the
Red Flag faction of the PBCP, along with arms at Chandrapur village
in the Bagmara sub-district in Rajshahi District.
Two suspected cadres of the PBCP-Janajuddha,
identified as Aliullah and Hossain, were arrested from the remote
village of Chatmohar sub-district under Pabna District.
|
October 26
|
Police raided the Dhaka central
office and Sylhet divisional office of the Hizb ut-Tahrir Bangladesh
and recovered its publications, and various other documents and
properties. On the same day, the Bangladesh Bank issued an order
to all banks across the country to freeze all accounts of the
banned outfit.
RAB arrested six JMB militants,
including two majlish-e-shura (the highest decision-making
body) members and neutralised their hideouts in Narayanganj, Jamalpur,
and Bagerhat Districts. The two top leaders, identified as Mehedi
Hasan alias Abeer, who was in charge of JMB's Khulna division,
and Zahirul Islam alias Zahid alias Badal, who was
in charge of Dhaka division (north), were arrested from a house
at Borpa of Rupganj area in Narayanganj District. Separately,
following up on information provided by the two arrestees, the
RAB launched operations at different places in Jamalpur District
and arrested Hasan Sheikh, anehsar (full-time worker) member who
was in charge of Jamalpur District, and gayre ehsar members
Abdul Mazed and Akhtaruzzaman alias Shuruz Master, along
with four Compact Discs and some books on jihad. Further, RAB
personnel also arrested an ehsar member, who was also in charge
of Bagerhat District, identified as Akbar alias Al Amin, from
Mollahr Hat area in the same District.
Police arrested a cadre of the
ICS from Katakhali municipality area in Rajshahi District. The
arrestee, identified as Zafar Babu, is an accused in several arms
related and women repression cases filed with the Motihar Police
Station, Police said.
In a joint operation by the RAB
and Police, two more JMB militants, identified as Akbar Ali Munshi
and Daud Hossain Sheikh, were arrested at Gaola Union in the Bagerhat
District.
The RAB arrested two PBCP cadres,
identified as Ikramul Haq and Laltu, at Khadimpur sub-district
in the Chuadanga District. The RAB also recovered a pistol and
two bullets hidden at Khadimpur graveyard on the revelation of
the duo. Ikramul, and Laltu were reportedly accomplices of the
PBCP regional leader Arif Ahmed.
|
October 27
|
With the help of Bandarban sub-division
Police, the Naikkhangchhari Police arrested four JMB militants
from two hotels in the town. The arrestees were identified as
M. Afsar Selim, Shahidul Islam, Abul Bashar and Nurul Afsar.
A leader of the KLO, a militant
outfit active in the Indian States of Assam and West Bengal, was
arrested from capital Dhaka. The Assistant Commissioner of Detective
Branch, Sanwar Hossain, told Daily Star that
they had arrested Tapan Petowari alias Palash
Dey, a close aide to the KLO chairman Jibon Singh and also his
nephew, from the city's Hazaribagh area on the charge of entering
Bangladesh without a passport.
|
October 28
|
Police arrested six JMB militants
during a raid at a JMB leader's house under Raninagar sub-district
in the Naogaon District.
A Bogra District court sentenced
five JMB militants to 20 years' rigorous imprisonment in a case
filed under the Explosive Substances Act. The court also fined
them BNR 20000 each and if they failed to pay this amount, they
will have to serve two more years in jail.
Police arrested a PBCP cadre,
identified as Afsar Ali, from Paikora village under Tarash sub-district
in the Sirajganj District. He is reportedly wanted in the trader
Abul Kalam Azad murder case.
|
October 29
|
A suspected militant of India’s separatist KLO,
arrested in the Hazaribagh area of Dhaka on October 27, confessed
before Police that KLO chief Jibon Singh was in Dhaka for "some
days" but left several months back.
|
October 30
|
Police arrested a ‘regional commander’
of the PBCP, identified as Abdul Jalil, along with a locally-made
pistol, a magazine, two bullets and four cartridges, at Bhagalpur
village in the Goalanda sub-district of Rajbari District.
|
November 1
|
A RAB team arrested the second
wife of the chief of the JMB and his sister-in-law from their
rented house at Mayakanon area under Sabujbagh Police Station
in capital Dhaka, though the JMB Chief managed to escape.
The ‘foreign secretary’ of the
Indian militant group ULFA, Sashadhar Choudhury, and the outfit’s
‘finance secretary’ Chitraban Hazarika were arrested by intelligence
officials from the Sector 3 area of Dhaka.
|
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.
Police arrested four GMF cadres,
including the Kushtia town Mahila AL general secretary, who has
also been a patron of the outfit, from Kushtia town in Kushtia
District in connection with transporting firearms and ammunition,
including an AK-47 rifle.
|
November 4
|
Police arrested Baishakhi Rahman Chumki,
a suspected female GMF cadre, from Kushtia town.
The RAB personnel arrested two JMB
militants, identified as Shimul and Sultan, along with
two pistols at Jessore-Benapole road in the Sharsha sub-district
of Jessore District.
The Police arrested three Lashkar-e-Toiba
(LeT) militants at Jameyatul Ulum Madrassa (seminary) at
Lalkhan Bazaar area in the Chittagong District. The trio were
reportedly linked to a plot to attack the US embassy
in capital Dhaka. Police also reportedly detected several
calls the three made to several Pakistani militant leaders.
|
November 5
|
Police arrested a suspected woman
cadre of the GMF, identified as Nahid Parvin Champa,
from a house of Aruapara town in Kushtia District,
in a second incident after Police launched a drive to arrest women
armed cadres of militant outfits.
The Chief Judicial Magistrate's
Court in Khagrachhari District, granted four days fresh
remand for three JMB militants, including the outfit's second-in-command,
in Chittagong division Mohammad Abdur Rahim alias Zahid alias Saifullah.
|
November 7
|
A cadre of the PBCP-red Flag,
identified as Suja Uddin alias Joy Babu, was
arrested in Chuadanga District.
|
November 8
|
A central leader of the BCP, identified
as Sarajit Ghosh, was killed in an encounter with the Police at
Defolbaria village in the Jhenidah District.
Kushtia District Police arrested
two top cadres of the Gono Bahini, identified as Emdadul and Moinuddin,
along with eight powerful bombs from Shantidanga village.
Speaking at the inaugural session
of the three- regional workshop hosted jointly by Government of
Bangladesh and the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Committee
Executive Directorate, Home Minister Sahara Khatun said, "Bangladesh will
strictly ensure that its territory is not used by terrorist elements
or organisations for activities against neighbouring countries."
Three Pakistani LeT militants
who are still holed up in Bangladesh targeted the US Embassy and
Indian High Commission in Dhaka for attacks before
Hajj
(pilgrimage) as part of the outfit’s plan, sources in the
Detective Branch of the Police said.
|
November 9
|
The chief of the Janajuddha faction
of the PBCP-Janajuddha in Pabna District, identified as Mohammed Kamruzzaman Oli,
was shot dead by Police during an encounter in the Faridpur District. He
was reportedly wanted for three murders and had been in hiding
since the caretaker Government came to power in 2007.
|
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 12
|
A cadre of the Red Flag faction
of the PBCP, identified as Abdul Halim, was hacked to death at
village Korial in the Santhia sub-district of Pabna District.
Security Forces recovered four
bombs from Chuadanga District and three from Benapole District.
|
November 13
|
Bangladesh Police arrested three
suspected members of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Toiba on suspicion
they were plotting to attack US and Indian interests in the country.
|
November 14
|
A suspected cadre of the PBCP-Janajuddha,
identified as Emdadul Khalifa, was arrested while extorting money
from a businessman in the Main Road area of Mongla sub-district
in the Bagerhat District.
|
November 15
|
A cadre of the PBCP-Janajuddha,
identified as Ilias Hossain Mamun, was killed in an encounter
with the Police Khalishakundi village under Daulatpur sub-district
in Kushtia District.
Badsha alias Badsha Bhai,
regional leader of the Red Flag faction of the PBCP, was beaten
to death at Roypur under Gangni sub-district in Meherpur District.
Police arrested an ICS leader,
identified as Hasmat Ali alias Liton,
and seized some gunpowder like substance and chemicals during
raids on three Rajshahi University halls.
|
November 16
|
Two cadres of the PBCP were killed
during an encounter with the RAB personnel at Jalkar area in the
Madaripur District. The duo was identified as Lutfor Rahman Khalasi
and his younger brother Khairul Haque Khalasi.
The SFs arrested two PBCP-Janajuddha
cadres in the Pabna District. The Rapid Action Battalion personnel
arrested Akkas Ali from Darisardiar village
along with a firearm while the Ataikula Police arrested Saheb Ali
from Sadullahpur village.
|
November 17
|
A cadre of the Janajuddha faction PBCP, identified
as Hasan alias Boma Hasan alias Batam, was killed
in a encounter with the Police at Baniakanda village under Jhenidah
District.
|
November 21
|
Police arrested 14 JMB militants from a house near
the District truck terminal in Jhenidah District. From the house,
owned by a primary school teacher Malek Joarder, Police also recovered
nine mobile phone sets, copies of Quran and Bible, Islamic booklets
and a copy of the first information report of the August 21 grenade
attack on Awami League rally.
|
November 22
|
A JMB militant, identified as Golam Mostafa alias
Manik, was arrested in front of Panchagarh Sadar Hospital in Thakurgaon
District. Police said Golam Mostafa was involved in a serial blast
in Nilphamari on August 17, 2005 and is wanted in a case filed
with Nilphamari Sadar Police Station in this connection.An Afghan
war veteran, identified as Abu Motaleb alias Matu alias
Majnu, was arrested by the Police from the Motijheel area of capital
Dhaka following information from arrested Pakistani nationals
and LeT militants Mohammad Ashraf Ali Zahid and Syed AbdulKaiyum
alias Sufian and Mohammad Monwar.
|
November 23
|
Indian authorities have arrested two top LeT militants,
who infiltrated into Bangladesh to lead a 15-member squad in an
attempt to attack the US and Indian missions in Dhaka, sources
in the law-enforcement agencies said. The LeT militants, identified
as T. Nasir and Sharfaraz from Indian State of Kerala, were arrested
by the Indian intelligence officials soon after they crossed the
Bibir Bazaar border in Comilla District on November 6, the sources
added. They were reportedly members of the LeT suicide squad and
were earlier hiding in the hilly areas of Chittagong District
for around one and a half months and trying to collect explosives
from the Rohingya rebels for the attack.
|
November 24
|
An underground regional leader
of the BCP, identified as Tajmul alias Taju,
was killed in encounter with the SFs at Habaspur village under
Kumarkhali sub-district of Kushtia District. Subsequently, one
foreign made revolver and four bullets were recovered from the
encounter site. According to Police, Taju was wanted in seven
cases, two for murder, filed with Kumarkhali Police Station.
The RAB in the same night arrested
a cadre belonging to the Red flag faction of the PBCP, identified
as Tofazzal Hossain Tofa, with a shutter gun and two bullets from
Nurdaha village in Santhia sub-district in Pabna District. Tofa
is reportedly an accused in several cases including murder, loot
and robbery.
|
November 26
|
Police arrested 1519 persons on
various charges in separate drives across the country in 24 hours
as of 6:00am (BST). 14 firearms, 12 bombs and 120 bullets were
also seized during the countrywide drive, said a Police headquarters
release.
|
November 27
|
A regional leader of the Red Flag
faction of the PBCP, identified as Chand
Ali alias 'Boma' Chand, was killed in an
encounter with the Police at Madarbaria village of Santhia Sub-District
under Pabna District. Police recovered recovered a
shutter gun and eight bullets from the encounter site.
|
November 29
|
The self-styled ‘supremo’ of NLFT,
Biswamohan Debbarma, was arreted from an elite restaurant in Dhaka
by personnel of DGFI. The DGFI has launched a massive crack down
against North East militant outfit’s leaders and cadres following
request from its Indian counterpart. The movement of two militant
leaders – NLFT ‘Supremo’ Biswamohan Debbarma and Ranjit Debbarma,
Commander-in-Chief of ATTF was under surveillance by the DGFI
for the past few days. The DGFI sources said that both the militant
leaders were moving together in different places of Dhaka for
the past one week. However, DGFI personnel could manage to catch
only Biswamohan.
|
December 1
|
PBCP cadres kidnapped three persons
and held them for ransom and having failed to realise the money
they killed them and buried the bodies in a graveyard in Taragunia graveyard
under Daulatpur sub-district in Kushtia District. The
dead bodies were recovered on December 1 following a confessional
statement of Rokunuzzaman alias Manik, a
top cadre of outlawed PBCP arrested on November 30. Police quoting
the arrested cadre said that a gang led by Manik abducted Mehedi Hasan Sohag from Majampur area
in Kushtia on November 1. They later demanded a ransom of BNR
3 million fromSohag's family. Police also added that the
cadres killed the abductees in between November 15 and 20 as their
families failed to pay the ransom and dumped the bodies atTaragunia graveyard.
|
December 2
|
The ‘chairman’ of the ULFA Arabinda
Rajkhowa and ‘deputy commander-in-chief’ Raju Baruah were arrested
in Dhaka. Both the ULFA leaders are likely to be handed over to
India, highly placed official sources said. Official sources said
that intelligence inputs indicated detention of the ‘deputy commander-in-chief’
of the ULFA Raju Baruah. "The Government of Bangladesh is
yet to confirm the detention of Raju Baruah. The Government of
Bangladesh only informed India that the ULFA Chairman and a few
others were detained. But Indian intelligence agencies managed
to obtain reports confirming the detention of Raju Baruah,"
sources added.
|
December 3
|
Two top leaders of the PBCP were
killed in an encounter with SFs at Kedarganj area in Chuadanga
District. The deceased were identified as ‘general secretary’
of PBCP Jamal alias Robi alias Nuruzzaman Sumon and Sunnat Ali,
the ‘second-in-command’ of PBCP. Two personnel of RAB -- ASI Aminul
Islam Amin and Constable Manik -- were also injured in the incident.
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.
|
December 4
|
Two cadres of the PBCP, identified
as Rokon and Sagar, were killed in an encounter in Jagati village
of Kushtia District. Police also recovered one pistol, one LG
and seven bullets from the encounter site. Police said that Rokon
is accused in 12 cases including four for murder while Sagar is
accused in 11 cases including three for murder.
The Bangladesh Government finally
spoke about the rampant international media speculations regarding
ULFA Chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa's arrest in Dhaka and his subsequent
transfer to Indian custody. Terming the media reports baseless,
Bangladesh Home Minister Sahara Khatun told reporters, "Since
we did not arrest him, there is no question of pushing him back,"
adding, "Media reports about the ULFA chairman's arrest in Bangladesh
is baseless and untrue."
Talking to Daily Star,
BDR Director General Maj Gen Mainul Islam said that he was not
aware of handing over of any ULFA leader to India by his Government.
|
December 6
|
Arrested Jammu and Kashmir based
Islamist militant Abu Yusuf Butt, who is a leader of Jamaat-e-Islami
and Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM) outfit, confessed before a Dhaka court
that he was linked to the August 21,2004 grenade attack on an
Awami League rally on Bangabandhu Avenue in the city. Yusuf also
said that he also worked with militant outfits HuJI and Pakistan-based
LeT.
A regional leader of the BCP was
killed by the Police during an encounter at Munshiganj village
under Alamdanga upazila (Sub-District) of Chuadanga District.
He was identified as Monwar Hossain alias Mono. Police recovered
one shutter gun, two bombs, splinters and two bullets from the
encounter site. Monwar was an accused in 11 cases, including five
for murder and six for abduction.
|
December 8
|
A cadre of the Janajuddha faction
of the PBCP, identified as Sheikh Murad, was killed in an encounter
with the Police at Brahmandia village of Fakirhat Sub- District
in Bagerhat District. Assistant Sub Inspector Abdul Aziz, Constable
Waziar Rahman and Constable Fazlul Huq sustained bullet injuries
during the encounter. Two shutter guns, 21 bullets and seven bullet
caps were recovered from the incident site. Murad, who was on
the run, was sentenced to death in connection with the murder
of eminent shrimp exporter and Fakirhat sub-district Awami League
leader S. M. Farhad Hossain. He was also accused in seven other
cases including three for murders.
|
December 9
|
Personnel of the Rapid Action
Battalion (RAB) recovered a light gun (LG) and arrest five persons
from a workshop at Paduar bazaar under Sadar Dakkhin upazila (Sub-District)
in Comilla District. Arms making materials were also recovered
from the workshop. The arrestees were identified as workshop owner
Abul Khayer, workers Safiullah, Bashir Uddin, Milon and Abdul
Awal.
|
December 11
|
An activist of the Parbattya Chattagram
Jana Sanghati Samity (PCJSS) party, identified as Shanti Kumar
Chakma, was killed in a gunfight between two factions of the PCJSS
near Moner Manush area at Dighinala upazila (Sub-District) in
Khagrachhari District. Dighinala Police sources said two factions
were locked in the clash over establishing supremacy in the area.
|
December 12
|
Kushtia District Police recovered
the dead body of an alleged cadre of the Gono Mukti Fouz (GMF)
outfit, Sahin Sheikh (30), from Bhadalia in Sadar upazila (Sub-District).
Police said that he was involved in drug peddling at the area.
|
December 14
|
Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) arrested
a cadre of the Gono Bahini outfit, identified as Ashraf Ali alias
'Koshai' Ashraf, from Peerpur village under Ataikula Police Station
in Pabna District. While other militants managed to escape, a
shutter gun was recovered from his possession.
|
December 15
|
Three JMB cadres, including its
Chittagong divisional ‘commander’ Javed Iqbal, were sentenced
to imprisonment in Chittagong in a case under Explosive Substances
Act. Chittagong Divisional Speedy Trial Tribunal Judge Mohammed
Shafiqul Karim awarded 20 years imprisonment to Javed Iqbal alias
Mohammad and 15 years to Naimuzzaman alias Sohag and Rafiqul Islam
each. Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) arrested Javed Iqbal and Naimuzzaman
at a house at South Kattoli under Pahartali Police Station on
December 14, 2005 and seized explosives from their possession.
RAB official Abdul Hannan filed a case with Pahartali Police Station
on the same day under Explosive Substances Act. Later, Police
pressed charges in the case against JMB ‘chief’ Abdur Rahman,
Siddiqul Islam alias Bangla Bhai, JMB ‘operation wing chief’ Ataur
Rahman Sunny, Zahidul Islam alias Boma Mizan, Javed Iqbal alias
Mohammad, Naimuzzaman alias Zafar alias Sohag and Rafiqul Islam.
Of them, Abdur Rahman, Bangla Bhai and Sunny were executed in
March 2007 in Jhalakathi judges' murder case. After examining
25 witnesses, tribunal judge on December 15 pronounced the verdict.
The court acquitted Boma Mizan as charge brought against him could
not be proved.
Haimchar upazila (Sub-District)
unit president of the ICS, identified as Iqbal Hossain, who was
arrested from Chandpur on December 14 for his reported involvement
with JMB cadres, was taken on a three-day remand. Police produced
Iqbal in Chandpur Chief Judicial Magistrate's Court with a prayer
for seven days' remand. Judge Mohammed Mozammel Haque granted
a three-day remand for the ICS leader. Police said Iqbal was carrying
out JMB activities staying in an orphanage adjacent to Faruq-e-Azam
Dakhil Madrassa (seminary) at Algi Bazar in Haimchar upazila and
recruiting members for the outfit at the madrassa.
|
December 17
|
At least 10 persons were injured
when suspected cadres belonging to the Jonojuddho faction of the
PBCP carried out an attack on a village at Belkuchi sub-district
in the Sirajganj District.
|
December 18
|
The dead body of a regional leader
of the PBCP-Red flag, identified as Saiful Islam Saban alias Sabai,
was found on a railway track in Alamganga sub district of Chuadanga
District.
|
December 20
|
Police in a special drive arrested
ten 'top-level members' of PBCP from Boroitola and Paikora villages
in Tarash sub district of Sirajganj District.
The Chief Judicial Magistrate's
Court in Kushtia District placed six GMF cadres on a three-day
fresh remand.
RAB claimed that militant outfit
JMB now has no suicide squad. The RAB ADG Col Mizanur Rahman Khan
also adds that JMB activities have almost come to a halt as its
command system has been almost broken down and limited to only
invitational programmes. He also said that JMB's capability to
carry out any subversive activity has been diminished to a great
extent. Replying to a question, Col Mizan, however, said that
JMB is trying to reorganise again through invitational activities.
PBCP cadres threatening to
kill five people if they stand against their 'movement', pasted
posters and distributed leaflets at Katagari Bazaar in Tarash
sub district of Sirajganj District.
|
December 22
|
Police arrested four cadres
of ICS in connection with the December 20 violent clashes at Government
Azizul Haque University College
|
December 23
|
Police recovered the bullet-hit
body of the Janajuddha faction of the PBCP cadre from Mongla Port
area in the Bagerhat District.
|
December 26
|
Rajshahi Police
aided by Rajshahi University (RU) authorities seized
more than 500 jihadi books, kept for distribution
by World Assembly of Muslim Youths (WAMY), from an Islami Chhatra
Shibir (ICS) controlled room at Shaheed Shamsuzzoha Hall.
|
December 27
|
The Sudharam Police
arrested eight Hizbut Touhid militants, including
three women, from the third floor of a house in Uttar Fakirpur area
in Noakhali District. Police also recovered a huge number
of books on militancy, leaflets, letters, 30 CDs, BNR 100000,
two cheque books, eight mobile phone sets and four identity
cards from their possession.
|
December 29
|
RAB said that
during 2009, 60 persons have been killed in 57 incidents in which
RAB used firearms but the use was not proved unlawful in the investigation.
RAB Director General Hassan Mahmood Khandkar said that the elite
force arrested 16,436 criminals, including 78 militants, and recovered
27 grenades, 1,306 firearms, 8,163 bullets, 304 bombs, 323 cocktails
and 20 kilograms of explosives in 2009. RAB also seized huge amount
of narcotics, fake notes, illegal VOIP equipment, antic items
and pirated CDs and arrested a good number of people in this connection.
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December 31
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Police with
the help of Rajshahi University (RU) authorities arrested two
ICS cadres and an outsider and sealed off two ICS-controlled rooms
at Shaheed Shamsuzzoha Hall for their alleged involvement in the
movement against the authorities.
An unspecified
law enforcement agency arrested Kazi Azizul Haque, an organiser
of HuJI-B leaders, from Sylhet.
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