Western Resistance: Bangladesh: Mosques Used as Militant Training Camps

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September 20, 2005

Bangladesh: Mosques Used as Militant Training Camps

In a report from yesterday's Asia News Net, it was revealed that on Sept 18, one of the men arrested after the August 17 bomb blasts confessed. We reported here on these blasts, which happened in 63 of the country's 64 districts, and killed two people.

Masud bin Ashaque had been arrested in Khulna on September 2nd. He confessed to having trained Islamist radicals in the use of firearms and bombs in Khulna. He also implicated Dr Asadullah al Galib, the leader of Islamist group Ahab (Ahle Hadith Andolan Bangladesh), and Abdur Rahman, head of JMB (Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh), and three other radical leaders. Over the last three years they had met on numerous occasions to discuss training programmes for jihadists. He said that JMB had caused bomb attacks on a circus and cinemas, which took place in 2002.

Masud bin Ashaque is an Indian citizen and homeopath. He is said to have organized night-time training sessions in mosques in the city of Khulna and at Rupsha Upazila, with these events monitored by represenatives of Bangla Bhai and JMB. These sessions included lessons in "grenade-hurling" and bombing enemies.

Several other individuals have been arrested in connection with the explosions of August 17, with nine more arrests made on Sept 17, and the following day four more arrests were made in Laxsmipur. One of these. Maulana Emranul Atahar, is the Principal of an Islamic seminary, the Noor Mohammed Norani Madrasa. These latest suspects were said to possess leaflets books and correspondence from another banned extremist group, Harkatul Jihad.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at September 20, 2005 6:47 PM