Islamist militants conspire of fresh attacks

Blitz Exclusive

Islamist militants in Bangladesh are now conspiring fresher offensives during the month of September. This time, they are targeting Hindu temples and have fixed at least five of such spots in the country, where these notorious groups would explode either powerful grenades or remote control bombs with the ulterior motive of causing serious casualties. According to information, some of the members of these groups are already active within the targeted temples to finalize their blue prints. It may be mentioned here that the biggest religious festival of Hindus, Durga Puja will be celebrated in the country during the last week of September. It is also learnt that the same groups are also planning to blow up at least two Holy Muslim Shrines in Bangladesh on the previous night of Lailatul Barat, an auspicious night to be celebrated in mid September.

Last year on 17^th August, Islamist militancy group Jamaatul Mujahedin Bangladesh (JMB) exploded time bombs in 63 districts in the country. Later the same group made several attacks on the lives of innocent people around the country. Later, government successfully arrested several ring leaders of the notorious Islamist group, who are now in prison facing series of cases. In one of the cases, they had already been awarded death penalty.

Meanwhile, some of the hidden members of JMB are secretly getting organized under the garb of different groups and organizations. Another source confirms Blitz that, Lebanese notorious group Hezbollah has also established its branch in Bangladesh under the direct patronization of Iranian government. This group, although till now claiming to be non-militant, are reportedly getting its members trained in different offensive tactics as well guerilla warfare. Iranian embassy in Dhaka are sponsoring the travel and training costs of these people. On condition of anonymity, a source in Hezbollah-Bangladesh told Blitz that, secretly some members of the organization are selected and recruited for notorious offensives including suicide attacks. They also have recruited at least 200 females for such activities. “We do not only look for dedicated pious women for our activities”, the source said. “We are even recruiting some prostitutes for using them in another project named ‘infiltration’. Generally such prostitutes are from middle age groups and are now given training on Arabic language and several motivations to allure the targets”. According to the source, prior to sending the members of female brigades of the group to targeted countries in the Middle East and Europe, HIV virus would be injected in their bodies. They will mix in the targeted societies to spread the germs in the ‘enemy societies’. Female members of Hezbollah-Bangladesh are also given comprehensive training on the use of different arms of arms and explosives. In case of necessity, they would perform the responsibilities of suicide bomb attackers.

Another extremist group named Hizbut Tahrir, which is originally operated by Omar Bakri from Lebanon, is also becoming increasingly active in Bangladesh. This organization openly opposes democracy, saying it is a practice of Satan. Although Bangladesh government has specific evidence of such anti democracy activities of Hizbut Tahrir, no action had yet been taken against them for reason unknown.

A source in country’s intelligence group told Blitz that they were already aware of fresher offensive plans of notorious Islamist groups. “We are taking all possible measures to foil such conspiracy”, the source said. Commenting on the alleged conspiracy of attacking Hindu temples during Durga Puja, the intelligence source said, Bangladesh government will constantly monitor this issue with the goal of ensuring total security to the members of religious minority in celebrating their holy festivals. The source further said, different surveillance measures will be applied on Hindu temples as well Muslim shrines to ensure security.

Commenting on the conspiracy of Islamist militants, a retired defense official and analyst told Weekly Blitz that, next few weeks will be extremely important and sensitive for the ruling government as any small incident would even cause maximum damage to their image and would leave extreme negative impact during the general election in 2007. “This is not a simple matter although, but the government will possibly try its best to succeed such challenge”, the analyst said.

Talking to Blitz, a diplomat in Dhaka said, after the declaration of Ershad’s Jatiyo Party to join four party alliances, result of the next general election is easily anticipated to be in favor of BNP. In this case, the main opposition and its partners would surely try their best to create anarchy in the country to foil the election. Such a negative attitude of the main opposition would also be extremely helpful to Islamist militants.