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December 2, 2005

Bangladesh: Islamist Suicide Bombers' Threats Taken Seriously

We reported earlier on the recent courthouse attacks in Bangladesh, which were carried out by Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB). This group was responsible for previous bombings on courthouses and recently killing two judges on November 14 at Jalakathi.

The aim of JMB is to create a sharia state. On August 17 they had a serial bombing campaign across most of the nation, with more than 400 bombs being detonated in 63 of the country's 64 districts. The bombings killed two people and injured more than a hundred. Near the scenes of each bomb, leters demanding that sharia law should be applied were distributed.

On Tuesday, 29 November, two suicide bombers attacked courthouses in Chittagong in the east and in Gazipur, 80 miles south east of Dhaka, the capital. 10 people died in the two explosions.

On Thursday, Dec 1, the courthouse at Gazipur was attacked by a second bomb blast. Two people were killed. Now according to the Daily Star, Gazipur is in a state of fear.

The state of fear has been heightened by other events, such as at Sylhet, where the City Mayor had a grenade hurled at him on Friday. The grenade did not go off.

The attacks on Tuesday were the first suicide bombings in Bangladesh, marking a new chapter in the history of Bangladesh's Islamist extremism. Bizarrely, the Chittagong suicide boomber (pictured above), who killed two policemen at a checkpoint outside Chittagong courthouse, remained alive after his explosives went off. His legs and hands were blown off, but he was kept alive in hospital.

He confessed on Wednesday to the police, saying that all of JMB's attacks had been planned at the Shakhipur Mosque and also in a hideout in the Chittagong Hills.

The Bangladesh Independent states that he initially gave his name as Abul Bashar, then said he was Ahmad Hossain, but now maintains that he is Hossain Ali.

Ataur Rahman Sunny, chief of the JMB arms wing and brother of JMB chief Shaikh Abdur Rahman, was the mastermind of all these attacks, said sources quoting Hossain. The training on the bomb attacks was held at JMB hideouts in Tangail, Hossain said.

The Daily Star reports that the suicide bomber in the second attack on Gazipur courthouse also managed to survive his attack, even though he too killed two people. The bomber identified himself as Abdur Razzak, aged 20, from Chapaiawabganj.

He had carried out the attack dressed as a tea boy.

Razzak told reporters that he carried out the attack following Allah's order. When asked who gave him the order, Razzak said, "I got the order from Quran."

Razzak also said that his target was the deputy commissioner's office. He tried to enter the office, but 'police made it all wrong.'

Immediately after the blast, he stood still although he suffered severe injuries. Cops who stood close to him asked him to lie down but he refused. "I will kill them all, blow all of them and I want to be a shahid," he shouted, claiming to have been 'carrying out orders of Allah'.

"The fire service men forced him to lie down on the ground, pouring water on him," said Constable Mizanur Rahman.

He was being treated at Gazipur Sadar Hospital and spoke to reporters.

The events have shaken Bangladesh's neighbours. The India Gazette states that India has sealed its eastern borders which adjoin Bangladesh. This was done for fear of an influx of Islamist militants. The Times reported earlier that India was accelerating the construction of a continuous fence around the Bangladesh/India border.

The UK Independent reported on Tuesday's suicide attacks at Chittagong and Gazipur on Wednesday, November 30. The article commented on the government's responses to the attacks.

The government is led by Prime Minister Khaleda Zia of the Bangladesh National Party in a coalition with the smaller Jamat-e-Islami. There are two smaller parties also represented with the parliament.:

Until February this year, when it finally accepted there was a problem, the government had dismissed reports of militants inside the country as fabrications - although there had already been a series of bomb attacks, including one on the British high commissioner.

The opposition Awami League has accused the Jamaat-e-Islami and the Islami Oikya Jote, both junior partners in Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia's government, of links to the militants. The Islami Oikya Jote has been quite open about its support for Islamic militancy and the Taliban in Afghanistan, but the Jamaat, which projects itself as more moderate, has denied any links.

On the same day New Kerala published an article, written before the news broke on the second Gizapur courthouse bombing, which stated that the events:

suggest that fundamentalist elements in the country want to establish a Taliban-style Islamic state.

What has particularly concerned the international community about the twin incidents is the accusation from the opposition Awami League that the Khaleda Zia government is engaged in a cover-up operation because two of its alliance partners - the Jamaat-e-Islami and the Islami Oikya Jote - reportedly have links with Islamic militants.

Update: The Daily Star for 3 December state that on Friday 2, following the second Gazipur courtroom blast, various Islamic organisations condemned the attacks. These included the chairman of the Islami Oikkyo Jote party, Alhaj Misbahur Rahman Chowdhury, who said killing innocent people and terrorising the country in the name of Islam cannot be called jihad. "The bombers can be dubbed either as the cold-blooded murderers, insane or heinous criminals in the eyes of Islam," he stated at a seminar organised by Islami Jubo Jote in Dhaka.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at December 2, 2005 11:46 PM

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