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Bangladesh Timeline Year 2008


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Date
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Incidents
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January 5
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Police recovered four grenades,
one sub-machine gun and 167 rounds of bullets at Balianpur of
Monirampur sub-district in the Jessore district. Police sources
said that the recovery followed the sighting of a grenade by children
near a farm. No one was arrested in connection with the recovery.
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January 8
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Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) personnel
recovered 12 kilograms of gunpowder and five kilograms of explosives
from Digholshingha village at Chowgachha in the Jessore district.
The explosives were hidden in sacks containing radish and were
to be loaded in a Jessore bound truck. No one, however, could
be arrested as the persons involved had managed to flee the scene
before the arrival of the RAB personnel.
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January 9
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Police arrested a Jama'atul Mujahideen
Bangladesh (JMB) militant,
identified as Moazzem Hossain Mollah of Ghatbila village in Mollarhat
sub-district in the Bagerhat district, while photocopying a leaflet
at Sardarpara in Jamalpur town. Police sources said that the leaflet
contained 'motivational speeches' of executed JMB leaders Shaikh
Abdur Rahman, Ataur Rahman Sunny and Abdul Awal. Following Moazzem's
preliminary confession, police raided his rented house at Adipaita
village in Melandaha sub-district in the district on the same
night and recovered some more leaflets.
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January 10
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The Parbatya Chattagram Jana Sanghati
Samity (PCJSS) urged the caretaker government to have dialogues
with it under the government's initiative of dialogues with political
parties. Rupayan Dewan, councillor of Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT)
Regional Council and central committee member of PCJSS, in a press
release said the appointment of a set of five new advisors to
the caretaker government is an important step for a credible election
at the earliest.
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January 11
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Kamrul Ahsan alias Himu Khan,
a left-wing extremist belonging to the Sarbahara Party, was arrested
by the RAB personnel while holding a secret meeting of armed cadres
of his outfit at Agorpur Bazaar in the Barisal district. A pipe
gun and two bullets were recovered from the arrested extremist
described as a leader of the Zia group and former chairman of
the union parishad (local government body) of Agorpur.
RAB sources said that Kamrul is an accused in five cases for murder
and extortion.
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January 18
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Abdus Salam Pintu, former Deputy
Minister in the Khaleda Zia Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP)
Cabinet in Bangladesh admitted before a Dhaka court that the then
Home Minister, Lutfozzaman Babar, and Ms. Zia’s son, Tariq Rahman,
had given the nod for the August 21, 2004 grenade attack on the
Awami League (AL) rally in capital Dhaka that led to the death
of 23 AL activists. Pintu, who is currently under detention, said
the plan was to kill AL leader Sheikh Hasina and senior leaders
of the party. Pintu is the brother of Maulana Tajul Islam, a militant
leader, who reportedly supplied the grenade to Harkat-ul Jihad-al
Islami-Bangladesh (HuJI-B)
leader Mufti Hannan to conduct the "operation." Both
Babar and Rahman are now facing charges of corruption and misuse
of power and are under detention.
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January 20
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A former zonal chief of the Purba
Banglar Communist Party (PBCP),
identified as Arif allias Badal, was killed during a shootout
with RAB and police personnel at Ramjibanpur village in the Sujanagar
sub-district of Pabna district. Arif’s accomplices, however, managed
to escape. A single barrel gun, a shutter gun, a light machine
gun and two bullets were recovered from the encounter site. RAB
sources said that Arif, accused in several cases including nine
for murder, had recently formed a new faction 'Maobadi Sangha
Bangladesh'.
Two PBCP cadres, identified as
Abbas Ali and Amirul Islam Khokon, were arrested during separate
raids in the Meherpur sub-district and two arms and three bombs
were recovered from them.
A judicial magistrate court in
Chuadanga sent arrested journalist Rafiq Rahman, working for a
Dhaka based vernacular daily Bhorer Kagoj, to jail. He
had earlier been arrested on January 19 on the basis of a statement
by Akram Hossain, an extremist belonging to the PBCP-Marxist–Leninist
(PBCP-ML). He has been accused of printing posters of the outfit
in his printing press.
RAB personnel recovered a time
bomb from a pond of Montu Laskar in Pabahati village under Sadar
sub-district in the Jhenidah district.
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January 19
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Sadar police in the Jhenidah district
recovered five bombs in an abandoned state from a pond in Pabahati
village.
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January 21
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Suspected extremists riding a
motorbike killed a local BNP leader at Sailkupa in the Jhenidah
district. Police sources said that the victim, Idris Ali, was
the organising secretary of the BNP’s Sailkupa police station
unit. However, no outfit has claimed responsibility for the killing.
A left-wing extremist leader belonging
to the Red Flag faction of the Swadhin Purba Bangla Communist
Party-Marxist-Leninist was killed during an encounter with the
RAB personnel at Ratowal village in the Raninagar sub-district
of Naogaon district. The slain extremist, identified as Ajit Pramanik
of Bhatkoi village, was the second in command of the outfit and
was accused in a number of cases, including five for murder with
Atrai and Raninagar police stations. One RAB personnel was injured
during the encounter. A foreign pistol, some ammunition and locally
made arms were recovered from the encounter site.
A special judge court in Jamalpur
sentenced three JMB militants to 34 years' rigorous imprisonment
in connection with a grenade attack on police at Bhatara in the
Sarishabari sub-district in 2007. The convicts identified as Habibur
Rahman Yousuf of Satpoa village in Sarishabari sub-district, Sultan
and Sohel of Charaildar village in Melandaha sub-district were
also fined Taka 8000 each. Five other accused were acquitted.
Yousuf was arrested first and following his confession, Sultan
and Sohel were arrested at Charaildar village in the Melandaha
sub-district on March 24, 2007 and 75 grenade bodies, 77 grenade
caps and 27 packets of power gel were recovered from them.
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January 22
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RAB personnel recovered an AK-47
rifle, bullets and two brass statuettes during separate raids
at Raozan and Boalkhali sub-district in the Chittagong district.
No one was arrested in connection with the recovery.
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January 23
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A speedy trial tribunal in Rajshahi
sentenced ten PBCP cadres to death for killing five people, including
four policemen. The accused had killed four policemen and a leaseholder
of Chowbaria Hat of Manda sub-district in the Naogaon district
on April 16, 2006 while looting firearms and ammunition. The PBCP
cadres sentenced to death include regional organising secretary
Nurul Islam Shahin, cadres Tahurul Islam, Shafikul Islam, Abu
Bakar Siddik, Nurunnabi Hasan, Shafikul Islam-2, Sanjay Kumar
Saha, Pintu, Dilip and Tomal. A total 21 PBCP cadres were accused
in the charge sheet of the case.
Security measures in the Khulna
city were tightened following a threat issued by the Marxist-Leninist
(ML) faction of the PBCP. The outfit mailed a hand-written letter
to the Khulna Press Club threatening to carry out bomb and grenade
attacks to take revenge for the killing of its operation commander
Abdur Rashid alias Tapu who was killed in the Fakirhat sub-district
of Bagerhat district in 2005.
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January 24
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Police arrested four members of
the banned Harkat-ul-Jihad outfit at Amin hotel in Jessore. The
arrestees were identified as Faruque Hossain, Idris Ali, Mosharef
Hossain and Abdul Jalil of Chapainawabganj. The policemen raided
Amin hotel on Chitra road at about 10:00pm after they were informed
that a group of Islamist militants staying in the hotel had been
circulating leaflets.
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January 26
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Second-in-command of the Janajudhdha
faction of the PBCP, identified as Mohammad Ali, was killed by
the RAB personnel during an encounter at Goaishbari village under
Ataikula police station in the Pabna district. Firearms, bullets
and bombs were recovered from the incident site. The RAB said
that Ali was accused in seven cases for murder, extortion and
other crimes, lodged with Ataikula, Santhia and Faridpur police
stations.
Anwarul Islam Dablu, a bodyguard
of former lawmaker Moshiur Rahman, was injured when unidentified
militants hurled a bomb at him in a tea stall at Adarsha Para
in the Jhenidah district.
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January 27
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Police arrested one militant of
the PBCP-Janajuddha faction, identified as Ashraf Ali, from Gilatala
in Khulna city. He is an accused in an Explosive Substances Act
case filed in September 2005 with the Khan Jahan Ali police station.
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| January 30 |
The Speedy Trial court in Rajshahi sentenced seven
JMB cadres to life imprisonment for carrying out bomb blasts in
Chapainawabganj on August 17, 2005. The court further fined the
convicts identified as Shahidullah Faruk Selim, Abul Kashem Tufan,
Shakhawat Hossain Ziad, Abdullah Al Mamun Nasim, Hafez Ali Akbar
Riaz, Shafiullah Shahid and Hafijur Rahman Dalim, Taka 10,000
each. Of the seven sentenced, two are still hiding.
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| January 31 |
One of the founding members of the New Biplobi
Communist Party (NBCP), identified as 57 year old Akdil Hossain
alias Buro was killed during a shootout between police and his
PBCP cadres at Dakshin Mulgram village in the Kushtia district.
Police raided the village where the NBCP cadres were holding a
secret meeting. A shutter gun and eight rounds of bullet were
recovered from the encounter site. Akdil's nephew Matiur Rahman
Mati, however, alleged that a team of policemen in plain clothes
had arrested Akdil while he was purchasing goods at a shop at
Rayerbazar in capital Dhaka on January 27. Akdil reportedly was
the acting chief of the outfit following the death of NBCP leader
Monoranjan Goshai alias Mrinal who was allegedly killed in India
in 2007.
The RAB personnel recovered seven bombs from Bhabanipur
Binpara in the Shibganj sub-district of Chapainawabganj district.
No one was arrested in connection with the recovery.
In a separate incident, RAB personnel recovered
two powerful bombs at Muslimpara in the Chuadanga district.
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| February
3 |
Police unearthed an arms factory at Sonakhali
Bazar in Morrelganj sub-district of Bagerhat district, . Six home-made
guns, one revolver, 108 live cartridges and bullets and three
sacks of arms making materials were recovered from the factory.
Owner of the factory Enayet Khan and his partner Masum Khan were
arrested. Officer-in-Charge Babul Akhter of Morrelganj police
station said the arrested persons had been supplying arms to extremists
and pirates in the Sundarban area and the south-western region
of the country.
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| February
4 |
The Election Commission (EC) at a meeting with
Chief Adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed asked the interim government to
create an environment conducive to holding elections to city corporations
and some municipalities in April, either by relaxing or by lifting
the state of emergency in respective areas. The EC suggested that
the emergency regime gradually allows 'indoor politics' to facilitate
electoral reforms including registration of political parties
with the commission. The process is supposed to be completed in
June according to the announced electoral roadmap. Election Commissioner
Brig Gen (retd) M Sakhawat Hussain said, "Now it depends on the
government whether it will lift or relax the state of emergency
to create the environment required for holding the polls."
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| February 8 |
A PBCP-ML cadre was killed in a shootout between
security forces and PBCP cadres at Bijnagar village in the Kushtia
district. The dead was identified as Akbar Ali of Naodapara in
Mirpur sub-district. A country-made shutter gun and seven rounds
of bullet were recovered from the encounter site . Police said
Akbar had been accused in 12 cases on different charges including
murder.
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February 11
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A PBCP-Janajuddha cadre, identified as Mohammed
Farman Ali was killed by his rivals within the outfit at Sonakandi
village in the Santhia sub-district of Pabna district. The slain
extremist was accused in several cases including murder and robbery.
Security forces in two separate raids recovered
a large number of firearms and ammunition from the Mohalchhari
and Dighinala sub-districts of the Khagrachhari district. While
a sub-machine gun (SMG), a .303 rifle, a Belgium-made single barrel
breech loading gun, a locally-made single barrel breech loading
gun, a grenade, SMG magazines and at least 2,000 bullets of different
types of firearms were recovered from the remote Bangamura village
in Mohalchhari, an army team recovered two foreign-made single
barrel breech loading gun, a grenade, 100 bullets and some documents
from Kamukkapara. However, no one was arrested in connection with
the recovery.
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| February
14 |
The RAB personnel arrested Mufti Moinuddin, alias
Abu Zandal, a key accomplice of the HuJI-B operations commander
Mufti Abdul Hannan near a mosque in national capital Dhaka, on
charges of carrying out a grenade attack at a rally of former
Prime Minister and AL leader Sheikh Hasina Wajed. Based on his
confession, RAB forces seized 41 live grenades from a remote village
in southwestern district of Satkhira. RAB sources said same type
of grenades were also used during the attack on Sheikh Hasina's
rally.
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February 16
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RAB personnel arrested three people and seized
21 explosives from their possession at Bapdanga village in the
Chapainawabganj district. The arrested persons were trying to
sell the explosives. The area along the international border with
India has been used for trading arms and bombs for long, RAB sources
said.
Intelligence agencies indicated that a large number
of grenades could be kept hidden in places across the country.
Hassan Mahmood Khandaker, Director General of RAB, when asked
whether grenades are in the hands of militants, said, "Our suspicion
points to everywhere". Security force personnel have seized at
least 130 hand grenades, mostly of Arges brand, and the rest 36-MHE
brand grenades, from different parts of the country. The bulk
of the seized grenades were in possession of the HuJI-B, which
had 'carried out' the major grenade attacks in the country.
The Speedy Trial Tribunal in Dhaka sentenced three
JMB militants to death on charges of killing eight people, including
two leaders of the cultural group Udichi, by carrying out suicide
bomb attacks at the Udichi and Shata Dal Shilpi Goshthi offices
in Netrakona in December 2005. The convicts were identified as
Salahuddin alias Saleheen, Asaduzzaman Chowdhury alias Panir and
Yunus Ali. Yunus Ali was tried in absentia as he is yet to be
arrested. The court acquitted Fahima alias Farzana as her involvement
with the killings was not proved.
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February 19
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A Dhaka court remanded HuJI-B leader Mufti Mainuddin
alias Abu Jandal alias Masum Billah in custody for seven days.
The investigating officer told the court that Jandal had supplied
the grenades that were used in the attack.
RAB personnel recovered 12 bombs from Dhumi Hayatpur
village in Ghorapakhia union under Shibgonj sub-district in the
Chapainawabgonj district. The explosives were wrapped in a polythene
bag and hidden underground. Nobody was arrested in connection
with the recovery.
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| February
20 |
Army Chief General Moeen U Ahmed said that Bangladesh
should have its own brand of democracy as the Westminster model
is not truly followed by any political party in power. Speaking
at the launch of his book Nirbachita Sankolon (selected
compilation) at Kurmitola Golf Club, General Moeen said "In our
democracy, prime minister completely becomes one-man show. What
we actually follow here is not the Westminster form." "We should
have such model of democracy as will suit us and that's why I
stated about our own brand of democracy", he added.
RAB personnel arrested a left-wing extremist belonging
to an unspecified outfit and recovered firearms at Degree Char
under Iswardi sub-district in the Pabna district. One rifle and
eight round bullets were recovered from the extremist, identified
as Khairul Alam alias Mollah of Krishnapur village in the Jhenidah
district.
Police recovered two firearms in separate raids
at Amlapara and Chourhas area in the Kushtia town. No one was
arrested in connection with the recovery.
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| February
21 |
Daily Star reported that the HuJI-B leader
Mufti Moinuddin alias Abu Zandal, now on a seven-day remand, during
his interrogation has admitted his role in carrying out the August
21 grenade attack on an AL rally in 2004 with an intention of
killing its chief Sheikh Hasina. Zandal, a close aide of detained
HuJI-B operations commander Mufti Abdul Hannan, is being interrogated
by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) at the Taskforce
for Interrogation (TFI) cell in Dhaka. According to the report,
the CID proposes to bring two more HuJI-B cadres, Moulana Abul
Kalam Azad Bulbul and Tamim, who were arrested earlier in connection
with the August 21 attack, face to face with Zandal to verify
information so far gained from him.
Over 600 rounds of bullets were recovered inside
a sack at Piplia area beside the Dhaka-Kalinganj road in Gazipur
district.
A grenade was found at Chowdhuripara under Ramgarh
sub-district in Khagrachhari district.
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| February 22 |
Police recovered two India-made revolvers with
eight rounds of bullet from a canal at Guard Para village of the
Lalmonirhat district.
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| February 23 |
A suspected JMB cadre was arrested in Tangail
by the police in Barisal. The arrested militant, identified as
Habibur Rahman Habib, is the son of Shajahan Miah of Habla village.
Police claimed that Habib is the second-in-command of JMB's Tangail
district unit and also the cousin of absconding JMB commander
Younus Miah, who has been sentenced to death in the Netrokona
bomb blast case recently. Habib is also an accused in two cases
filed with the Paltan police station in Dhaka and Tangail police
station in connection with August 17 bomb blasts in 2005.
Police detained a JMB militant, Abdur Rahman,
while he was giving money to an accused JMB cadre at a Chittagong
Court. The arrested is the son of Rafiqul Islam of Ghuchung Chhara
in Rangamati.
The two detained HuJI-B militants who were involved
in the August 21, 2004 grenade attacks on the AL rally in capital
Dhaka were placed on three days' remand. They were identified
as Maulana Abul Kalam Azad alias Bulbul and Hossain Ahmed alias
Tamim. The Criminal Investigation Department reportedly plans
to interrogate them along with the detained HuJI-B militant Mufti
Moinuddin alias Abu Zandal for cross-checking the information
provided earlier by Zandal.
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| February 24 |
Police recovered 11 bombs, three pipe-guns, two
bullets and an unspecified quantity of bomb-making material from
the district town of Jhenidah and the adjoining Madhugram village.
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| February
25 |
RAB Personnel arrested six 'bomb throwers' of
the Marxist Leninist-Janajuddha faction of the PBCP from Jhenidah
town and its outskirts . They were identified as Intaj, Kader
alias Zakir, Sohag alias Sagar, Liton, Mitu and Motiar, RAB said,
adding that they confessed to their involvement.
Two bombs and two shutter guns were recovered
by the RAB personnel from Dudhli village under Kaliganj sub-district
in the Satkhira district.
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| February
27 |
RAB personnel recovered one AK-47 rifle, a magazine
and 16 rounds of bullet from Noapara under Raozan sub-district
in the Chittagong district.
Home Secretary Abdul Karim said that the Islamist
militant groups in the country are home grown as they finance
themselves domestically and are patronised by particular political
parties. Speaking at the opening session of a day-long conference
on militancy in Dhaka, Karim said, "Weapons or types of explosives
that they have used may have foreign origins or [come from] neighbouring
countries, but their financing is arranged internally - not from
external sources." He also said that the caretaker government
is focusing on dismantling the network of small 'extremist' groups
such as Allahr Dal, Hijbut Tahrir and Hijbut Touhid.
A report by the Bangladesh Enterprise Institute
(BEI) titled, "Trend of Militancy in Bangladesh: August 2007-2008
said that since the August 17, 2005 country-wide explosions the
RAB personnel have arrested 104 Islamist militants. The highest
number of the arrested is from the Hizbut Touhid, comprising 46
percent. The BEI report also stated that in the past six months,
militants have been preparing for grenade attacks, regrouping,
strengthening their networks, training, engaging in propaganda
warfare and abducting people.
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| February
28 |
Daily Star reported that the dormitories
of Dhaka Polytechnic Institute in the national capital’s Tejgaon
area have turned into a safe haven for fugitive criminals and
militants. Criminals and militants are taking refuge within the
three hostels of the Institute. Unidentified students and law
enforcement agencies have confirmed that the criminals are being
provided shelter by the Islami Chhatra Shibir. Several teachers
with Jamaat background and with alleged links with the HuJI-B
are also involved in the incident. Prof Shamshul Alam, principal
of the Institute, admitted that some teachers of the institute
are assisting the militants to hide in the dormitories, but said
that the authorities are unable to take actions against those
teachers since the issue is "out of their jurisdiction to deal
with".
Police arrested a PBCP ‘regional commander’, identified
as Abul Kalam Azad alias Kala, with two firearms, 11 rounds of
bullet and one cartridge from Saurail village under Pangsha sub-district
in the Rajbari district. He was reportedly wanted in five cases.
Army personnel recovered firearms and ammunition
from Pumangpara under Dighinala sub-district of Khagrachhari district.
The recovery included one Rifle, one, pipe gun, two magazines
and 10 bullets.
During another search operation, troops from Guimara
recovered a gun from Barapilak under Guimara police station in
the same district.
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| March 4 |
Daily Star quoting intelligence agencies
reports that the left-wing extremist outfits in the country's
south-western region are regrouping with a seven-point programme
to increase their strength and retaliate against the security
forces. In late February 2008, the Marxist-Leninist faction of
the PBCP organised a meeting of different outfits in Jhenidah
and called for unity of all the groups to launch an "action programme".
The programme reportedly includes bomb attack on law enforcers,
educational institutions, passenger transport and important places
in ten districts of the region, collection of toll from businessmen,
distribution of leaflets, recruiting new cadres, removing class
enemies and avenging the deaths of their colleagues in fake encounters.
According to police sources, the left-wing extremists have killed
ten persons and exploded nine bombs during the past one week in
the area. They have also extorted a large amount of money from
some businessmen in the south-western region.
Pratham Alo reports that the HuJI-B used
to supply grenades to the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT)
to carry out attacks in India. An arrested HuJI-B leader Abu Zandal
has told the police during his interrogation in Dhaka that the
outfit had sent several consignments of grenades to the LeT operating
in India until 2004. The last such consignment however, could
not be delivered as the LeT representative who was supposed to
receive it was killed in an encounter with Border Security Force
(BSF) near Bangladesh's Kaliganj frontier. Zandal reportedly told
the interrogators that the LeT leader Yazdani, who was killed
in 2006 by the Delhi Police, used to maintain links with the detained
HuJI-B ‘operations commander’ Mufti Abdul Hannan. Zandal also
claimed that the supply of ‘Arges’ grenades were being received
from a fugitive, Maulana Tazuddin, believed to be hiding in South
Africa.
Police recovered eight bombs from a bathroom attached
to the students’ dormitory of Mukta hostel of Rangpur Medical
College.
Five teachers and five office clerks of the Rangpur
Carmichael College were transferred to different colleges after
intelligence agencies and the education department found them
responsible for instigating Islami Chhatra Shibir (ICS) activists
to go on rampage on the college campus on February 6.
|
| March 5 |
The United States State Department labelled HuJI-B
as a foreign terrorist organisation (FTO). The outfit was previously
put on the list of 'Other Terrorist Oragnisations' in 2003 by
the US. A press release to this effect by the state department
said, “The leader of HuJI-B signed the February 1998 fatwa sponsored
by Usama bin Ladin [sic] that declared American civilians to be
legitimate targets for attack. Since then, HuJI-B has been implicated
in a number of terrorist attacks in Bangladesh and abroad.” Signed
by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, the Executive Order
13224, criminalises providing material support to HuJI-B by US
citizens or people living under US jurisdictions, and freezes
all HuJI-B property and interests in the US and in areas under
US jurisdiction. The designation also enabled the US to deny visas
to HuJI-B representatives, and requires US financial institutions
to freeze assets held by HuJI-B.
|
| March 6 |
The Bangladesh Home Ministry said there has been
no operation of the HuJI-B in the country and the law enforcers
were on alert to check against the resurgence of the outfit. Additional
secretary of the home ministry Abdur Rashid said in a briefing
at the ministry, “Intelligence agencies and lawmen are keeping
watch so that the extremist organisation cannot resume its operation.”
RAB personnel unearthed a firearms-making factory
in the national capital Dhaka’s Nayabazar area on March 6 and
recovered three firearms and 12 bullets. A 24-year-old youth identified
as Mohammad Imran Hossain was arrested in this connection. Firearms-making
equipment and spare parts were recovered from his possession,
a RAB statement said.
During a separate drive at 35 Shamchhabad Lane,
the RAB personnel recovered two revolvers, one shutter gun, ammunition
and other materials.
Two JMB cadres, Nashirul Haque Bintu and Hafizur
Rahman Raju, were arrested at Bahalguri village under Bhurungamari
sub-district in the Kurigram village. Both reportedly are close
associates of JMB leader Matin Mehedi and had gone into hiding
following the arrest of Matin in April 2007.
|
| March 9 |
A JMB cadre, who was sentenced to death by a court,
died while he was undergoing treatment at Dhaka Medical College
and Hospital (DMCH). Nasirullah was admitted to the DMCH by the
Dhaka Central Jail authority on March 4 as he had been suffering
from jaundice. A senior special judge's court of Jhenidah sentenced
him to death on February 28, 2006 in an explosive case. The case
was pending in the High Court.
RAB personnel recovered 14 bombs at Terorashia
village of Islampur union in the Chapainawabganj district. The
bombs reportedly were hidden in a bamboo cluster. No one has been
arrested in connection with the recovery.
|
| March 10 |
Daily Star reports that leaders of the
HuJI-B had formed a new political party called Islami Gono Andolan
in 2006 with an objective of carrying out political activities
openly. A seven member committee led by Maulana Abdus Salam, founder
of the Fatematuz Zohra women's madrassa (seminary) in Sherpur
in the Bogra district, carries out the organisational activities
of the party. Former deputy commander of HuJI-B and founder of
Ommulara Al Islami madrassa of Shajahanpur in Bogra, Abdul Hannan
Sabbir, and HuJI-B leader Abdul Aziz are members of the committee.
A PBCP-Red Flag faction regional leader was killed
during an encounter with the Rapid Action Battalion personnel
at Nandanpur village in the Ataikula sub-district of Pabna district.
The killed extremist Md Abdus Samad alias Dhala Samad hailed from
Kakilakhali village and was accused in several cases, including
four for murder. Eight bombs, two shutter guns and three rounds
of bullet were recovered from the encounter site.
The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) submitted
supplementary charge sheets of two cases filed in connection with
the grenade attack on the British High Commissioner at the shrine
of Hajrat Shahjalal in Sylhet in 2004. The charge sheets accused
the HuJI-B leader Abu Zandal alias Mufti Mainuddin and Masum Billah
Khaza of delivering the grenades for the attack. The investigation
officer told although charge sheets of the cases were submitted
earlier, further investigation was carried out on the basis of
the confessional statement of HuJI-B ‘operations commander’ Mufti
Abdul Hannan, who indicated that the Abu Zandal had provided the
grenades through the outfit’s operatives Sharif Shahedul Alam
Bipul and Delwar Hossain Ripon.
|
| March 11 |
Nine JMB militants were sentenced to life imprisonment
for their involvement in the serial bomb blasts in Barguna on
August 17, 2005. They were also fined Taka 5,000 each. They were
identified as Asadul Arif, Rezaul Karim, Hafez Mohammad Mostafa
Hasan, Hafez Al Amin, Shahidul Islam, Masum Billah, Abdul Haque
Abbasi, Hafez Abdur Rahman and Shahid.
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| March 13 |
Police in Sirajganj district arrested a leader
of the PBCP from Char Boyra village. The arrested extremist Abul
Hossain is an accused in many cases including murder, killing
police personnel, attacking the police camp at Randhunibari and
looting of arms and ammunition.
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| March 14 |
Two persons were injured in a bomb attack on a
brick field at Kumrabaria village in the Sadar sub-district of
Jhenidah district. Truck driver Alam of Abhoy Nagar sub-district
in Jessore and night guard of the brick field Amjad Hossain were
injured when unidentified militants hurled two bombs, its owner
Sharfaraj Khan Dinu said, adding, the militants also fired shots.
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| March 15 |
Seven persons were injured in a powerful explosion
near a police patrol van at Noapara rail station under Abhoynagar
sub-district in the Jessore district. Eyewitnesses told that an
unidentified man hurled the bomb on the police van that was patrolling
the area. Police sources quoting a Sub Inspector who was inside
the police van during the bomb attack said the act was an isolated
incident to create panic and it was not targeted at the police
van.
Separately, two PBCP-Janajuddha cadres were arrested
from an unspecified village in the Chuadanga district while collecting
Taka 20,000 as extortion from a doctor.
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| March 16 |
RAB personnel arrested Mohammed Hares Sarder,
a regional leader of the Rad Flag faction of the PBCP, from Joydebpur
intersection in the Gazipur district. Following his interrogation,
a Chinese revolver, an SBBL gun made in Belgium, two Burmese shutter
gun and two locally made shutter guns were recovered from Dhanuaghata
village in the Faridpur sub-district of Pabna district.
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| March 18 |
A BCP extremist who had been arrested in Shailkupa
sub-district in Jhenidah district on March 17 was seriously injured
while trying to flee from police custody . The extremist, identified
as Munna of Kacher Kole village had been arrested with a gun and
three bullets.
|
| March 22 |
A Dhaka court sentenced three JMB militants, including
the outfit's former second-in-command Siddiqul Islam Bangla Bhai's
wife, Fahima alias Farzana, to different terms of punishment for
the bombings at Udichi and Shatadal Shilpi Goshthi offices in
Netrakona in December 2005. The other convicts are Salahuddin
alias Saleheen and Asaduzzaman Chowdhury alias Panir. Salahuddin
was sentenced to 31 years in jail while Panir and Fahima were
sentenced to 10 and five years respectively. Panir and Fahima
were also fined Taka 10,000 and 5,000 each, in default of which
they will have to serve six and one months more in jail respectively.
The court acquitted a fugitive JMB member Yunus Ali, as his involvement
with the bomb blasts was not proved.
The RAB personnel seized a locally-made pipe-gun
and one bullet of shutter gun that had been left abandoned at
Juspur in the Tanore sub-district of Rajshahi district.
|
| March 26 |
The Court of Second Additional Metropolitan Sessions
Judge in Chittagong sentenced four Islami Chhatra Shibir cadres
to death and three other Shibir cadres to life imprisonment for
killing eight people, including six Bangladesh Chhatra League
(BCL) activists, in Bahodderhat on July 12, 2000. Each of the
convicted cadres was also fined Taka 50,000 each. The three with
life terms will have to stay in prison a year more if they fail
to pay the fine. Thirteen ICS cadres charge sheeted in the case
were acquitted by the court. The ICS cadres had opened fire on
a bus carrying BCL cadres, student wing of the Awami League, at
Bahodderhat in Chittagong killing six BCL cadres, the driver and
an auto-rickshaw driver.
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| March 31 |
RAB personnel recovered 12 hand bombs from Gopalpur
village in the Sujanagar sub-district of Pabna district . RAB
authorities suspect that the bombs might have been kept at the
village by the left-wing extremists.
|
| April 5 |
A top militant of the Jasad Gono Bahini (JGB),
Mahir Uddin, was killed in an encounter by the police at Zagannathpur
village in the Alamdanga sub-district of Chuadanga. The police
later recovered Mahir's dead body along with three shutter guns
and nine bullets from the incident site. Mahir was a hardcore
militant of the JGB and a close accomplice of its chief Azibor
Rahman, police said. He was accused in some cases, including three
for murder, filed with different police stations in Chuadanga
and Kushtia districts.
Police recovered arms and ammunition, including
an AK-47 assault rifle, one .22- bore rifle, a single-barrel gun
and 66 rounds of ammunition from Bongram village in the Khoksha
sub-district of Kushtia. Police said the operation was launched
at noon on the information that some cadres of Razzaq Bahini are
holding a secret meeting at a house at the village.
|
| April 7 |
The Pabna district unit commander of PBCP-Red
Flag, identified as Md. Shimul Pramanik, was killed during an
encounter with RAB personnel and the outfit's cadres in Salaipur
village in Goaishpur union. A point 22 revolver, a pipe gun, a
shutter gun and seven bullets were recovered from the site of
the encounter. Two RAB personnel were injured in the incident.
|
|
April 9
|
The United Kingdom (UK) Home Secretary,
Jacqui Smith, said that there was a terrorist linkage between
Bangladesh and the United Kingdom. She told reporters at the residence
of the British High Commissioner, "There is a potential linkage
between terrorists in Britain and terrorists in Bangladesh and
we have shared interest and endeavour to tackle it through both
short- and long-term measures." She also said that there would
be a joint working group in June 2008 on countering terrorism
comprising officials of both countries.
A five day India-Bangladesh Border
Coordination Conference began at the BSF headquarters in New Delhi
where the Indian side handed over a revised list of 117 militant
hideouts operating in Bangladesh. A list of 141 hideouts of members
of Indian insurgent groups living in Bangladeshi territory was
given to Bangladeshi side during the previous round of talks in
October 2007.
|
|
April 12
|
The Criminal Investigation Department
(CID) arrested a person suspected of lobbing grenades at an AL
rally in the capital Dhaka on August 21, 2004. CID sources said
that Arif Hasan Sumon had also carried bombs used in the Ramna
blasts on April 14, 2001. He was arrested from his house at Ali
and Noor Real Estate Housing in the capital’s Mohammadpur area.
|
|
April 13
|
A PBCOP-Janajuddha ‘regional leader’
was killed during an encounter with the police in Jhenidah. Two
policemen were injured in the incident. The slain extremist was
identified as Rezaul Islam alias Razu of Chandipur village. He
was arrested on April 12 from Lakhmikol village and had been taken
to the encounter site for recovery of firearms. Two bombs and
a firearm with two bullets were recovered subsequent to the encounter.
Police recovered four bombs and
a large quantity of bomb-making materials and a leaflet at Bhadughar
Bus Stop in the Brahmanbaria town. Two persons were arrested in
connection with the recovery.
|
|
April 14
|
Suspected left-wing extremists
belonging to an unidentified outfit killed a relative of a PBCP-Janajuddha
leader at Gachha village in the Tala sub-district of Satkhira
district. The victim, identified as shrimp farmer Mahadev Kumar
Sarkar, was returning home on a motorcycle when the extremists
lobbed explosives targeting him. Mahadev is related to the local
PBCP-Janajuddha leader Shukdev Sarkar.
Security forces recovered nine
locally made grenades, one 9-mm pistol, two locally-made guns
and 15 bullets were recovered at Brahmanbaria.
Police recovered five Arges grenades,
one sub-machine carbine (SMC), two of its magazines and 68 bullets,
including 30 SMC bullets, at North Damuddya in the Shariatpur
district.
|
|
April 16
|
The Indian Government confirmed
that the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) leaders are carrying
out business activities in Bangladesh. The Union Minister of State
for Home Affairs, Radhika V Selvi, informed the Rajya Sabha (Upper
House of Indian Parliament) that inputs suggest that the ULFA
has been using the territory of Bangladesh to procure and smuggle
arms and explosives into India. The Minister was replying to a
question on whether ULFA commanders have a vast network running
seven hotels and six nursing homes, besides procuring weapons
through the port city of Cox’s Bazaar in Bangladesh.
A Rajshahi divisional court awarded
life terms to all 11 JMB militants in a sedition case filed for
taking combat training to fight against the State in July 2005.
Judge M. Sajedul Karim also fined the accused TK 20,000 each,
in default of which they are to spend two more years in jail.
Delivering the judgement, the court said that the militants were
engaged in anti-State activities and that they had been receiving
exclusive combat training on arms, ammunition and detonators with
ulterior motives against the State was proved without any doubt.
|
|
April 18
|
Abu Abbas, a GMF regional leader
was killed during an encounter with RAB personnel at Kakiladah
graveyard of Mirpur sub district in the Kushtia district. The
RAB personnel recovered a Pakistan-made rifle and five rounds
of bullet from the incident site. Police said Abbas was accused
in 16 cases on different charges, including murder.
The RAB personnel killed Sainul
Haq alias Hira, a top cadre of Red Flag faction of the PBCP-ML
at Bhatkui village in the Naogaon district. A shutter gun, a pipe
gun, a rifle and three bullets were recovered from the incident
site. Hira had been accused in several cases on different charges,
including murder.
|
|
April 19
|
A close associate of the imprisoned
operations commander of the HuJI-B, Mufti Abdul Hannan, was arrested
by the RAB personnel from a forest area in the Fatikchhari sub-district
of Chittagong. The militant, Maulana Shihabuddin, who runs a madrassa,
is suspected of having been involved in several grenade attacks
across the country.
RAB personnel recovered an AK-47
rifle, a magazine and 49 rounds of bullet from Noapara of Raozan
sub-district in the Chittagong district.
|
|
April 20
|
Police produced 29 arrested JMB
militants before a court in Mymensingh. The militants included
Salahuddin Salehin and Asaduzzaman Ponir, two cadres who have
been awarded death sentence in a case of bomb explosion.
|
|
April 23
|
Daily Star quoting intelligence
agencies reported that leaders and cadres of left-wing extremist
groups have been active in recent times in the remote areas of
Tala, Assassuni, Paikgachha, Keshabpur, Manirampur and Dumuria
sub-districts of different districts in south-western region of
the country. These extremists had reportedly fled the region following
a crackdown by the security forces.
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