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December 14, 2005

Bangladesh: Senior Islamist Commander Captured

In reports from Daily Star and from Reuters, a senior leader of Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), Ataur Rahman Sunny, has been captured on Tuesday afternoon at Tejgaon, a suburb in Dhaka, the capital (pictured).

Ataur Rahman is chief of the military wing of the JMB, and is also the brother of Abdur Rahman, the commander of JMB. He is said to given the go-ahead for the mass bombings which happened on Aug 17.

Ataur Rahman would visit training camps and JMB cells in Shakipur and forests in Tangail, and he is implicated in the recent suicide attacks on courthouse buildings in Chittagong and Gazipur. The bomber from Chittagong, Hossain Ali, who survived for nearly two days with no legs nor hands, said that Ataur Rahman Sunny was the mastermind of all three attacks.

Ataur Rahman would visit the militant training camps in the forests in Kalian under Sakhipur, in Tangail. On November 23, Ataur Rahman's passport was discovered in a raid on a property in Rangpur, in conjunction with bomb-making paraphernalia.

When he was arrested by members of the paramilitary Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), his confession led to another raid, in the Sabujbagh area of the capital, which led to the discovery of one of the largest caches of explosives, arms and ammunition yet found, as well as bomb- and bullet-making items. 50 kg of explosives, 27 grenades, dozens of detonators, 24 revolvers and magazines were retrieved in the haul.

Earlier on Tuesday night, Fariduzzaman Swapan, a close associate of Ataur Rahman who channelled JMB finances via bank accounts, was arrested in the city.

The Bangladesh Independent reports that three joint bank accounts of 7 leaders of JMB had been identified. The leaders of JMB had withdrawn Tk 11 lakh in one year. This figure, 1,100, 000 Bangladesh Taka, is equivalent to $16,700. Abdul Awal, who married Ataur Rahman's niece (Abdur's daughter) had another JMB account. He said during questioning that he had once drawn out Tk 18 lakh ($27,200) from this account.

The accounts had been opened in the names of businessman and non-government organisations. Earlier, the Bangladeshi government had expelled three members of the Revival of Islamic Heritage Society (RIHS) were deported from Bangladesh. They were expelled not because of involvement with RIHS, but because of links to the group Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation.

Al-Haramain is a Saudi-originated international group which was designated by the US Treasury on September 9, 2004 as a terrorist organisation, in its actions to fund and underwrite terrorist operations. In March 2002, the Somalia and Bosnia-Herzegovina branches had been designated for diverting money to finance terrorism. This group is involved with the Oregon Jihad.

RIHS is said to have put up the financing for the August 17 bomb attacks, as we reported earlier, and has been on a US exclusion list since Jan 9, 2002, yet RIHS group also received a grant from the coalition government last month to set up madrassas, mosques, and training of imams.

Sunny was arrested following a tip-off that he would be visiting someone at a dormitory in the Polytechnic Institute in Tejgaon, and security operatives set themselves in place to await his arrival. As he entered the hostel, RAB officers swooped on him. It appears he did not have weapons on him, but he had some money and eight SIM cards.

Sunny, a member of JMB Majlish-e-Sura, used to run and coordinate all militant and terrorist operations, including the bomb attacks, of the banned organisation.

After the arrest, Sunny identified himself as commander Masuq Hassan Ahmed, director of JMB's legal and media wing, Rab told the press. But, Rab members became certain of his true identity by comparing his appearance with his photographs and varying some other information. And Sunny also owned up his real identity.

Arrests were made in Chittagong city, in the district of Kattali. Chittagong divisional chief of JMB, Mohammad alias Aman Ullah, was arrested with an accomplice.

Their arrests led to the discovery of a cache of equipment that is not modest, including:

a blender bomb, seven flask bombs, 28 containers each containing 750gram ammonium nitrate, 29kg white and 3kg black gun powder, 500gram aluminium powder, 700gram potash, 200gram lead azide, 3.50kg sulphur, 69 pieces of powder gel explosives, 8kg chemical explosives, 20 hand grenades, two light guns, two dummy AK-47 rifles, one revolver and 38 electronic detonators.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at December 14, 2005 8:22 PM

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