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December 8, 2005

Bangladesh: Another Islamist Suicide Bombing

Earlier today (Thursday), a man on a bicycle blew himself up beside a crowd of people outside the area office of a national arts and culture group in the district of Netrakona (red on map), killing himself and six other people, according to the Daily Star. At least 46 others were injured.

The crowd had gathered as a small bomb had previously been detonated. It had been left outside an administrative office of the Udichi cultural organisation. Firefighters had been pouring water onto the bomb to cool it and prevent it from going off. It exploded, injuring two policemen.

As people gathered, a man on a bicycle careered into the crowd, with explosives attached to his body, which he detonated, ripping off his his hand and killing two people, including the convenor of the Udichi, Khwaja Haider Hossain and another from the center. Three others died later from injuries.

10 police constables were injured in the blasts, and one of those injured appeared to be a second suicide bomber, a motor mechanic named Yadav, whose charred body was found lying on the ground, an unexploded bomb still attached to his leg. He died later from his injuries.

The Bangladesh Udichi Shilpigosthi is an arts-based organisation, which was founded in 1968, and has several institutes and schools promoting fine arts, music, dance and drama. They also specialise in performing street theatre.

The Udichi have been bombed before. On March 6 1999, a conference by the organisation in Jessore was hit by a bomb, killing 10 and wounding dozens of others. Their activities are obviously anathema to the "purist" ideology of the Islamic extremists.

A leaflet by the Islamist group Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) was found at the scene of the Netrakona blasts. As in previous message, the letter demanded the establishment of an Islamist state based on the rule of Sharia. The letter claimed that the JMB would crush all obstacles in its path.

Lutfozzaman Babar, the Minister of State for Home Affairs, who in January had denied the existence of JMB, visited Nektrona and paid his respect to victims in various hospitals.

"Such blasts are taking place not only in Netrakona but across the country. Bombers must be cut off from the ones supplying them with explosives and funds. Besides, the people will have to unite to resist them," he said while at the the scene of the bombings.

Today, the Daily Star announced that law enforcers had captured a supplier of explosives to JMB on Monday, but had not informed the media.

Lutfozzaman Babar announced on Monday that he had "good news" for the nation, and appeared to be waiting for an opportune moment to announce the success of the operation.

The supplier was apprehended in the district of Rajshahi (orange in map), and varying sources claimed that he had supplied the explosives in all of the recent bomb attacks by JMB. Some optimists assumed that the man captured was Abdur Rahman (head of JMB) or Bangla Bhai, a former schoolteacher turned terrorist, who is involved with JMB and also Muslim Janata Bangladesh. These surmisings have not been confirmed, and they are to be doubted.

The Bangladesh Independent today announced that a team of Interpol investigators had concluded that the recent spate of bombings show similarities to the strategies of the LTTE - the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam, or Tamil Tigers.

The eight-member team arrived from Singapore on Monday and visited Gazipur, where a suicide bomber struck the offices of the Gazipur Bar Association on November 29, and also the main gate of the Deputy Commissioner's office near the same courthouse, where another suicide attack took place on December 1. They also gathered forensic evidence for analysis, with a hope that the location of the source of the explosives can be ascertained.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at December 8, 2005 5:29 PM

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