JMB denies involvement in Gulshan, Sholakia attacks

Refuting the claims by police, a faction of banned militant group Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) said their members were not involved in the recent terror attacks in Gulshan and Sholakia that killed at least 25 people, including 17 foreign nationals. The militant group made the claim on Sunday as they sent two memory cards to the Bangla Tribune office describing the attacks. The outfit has also changed its logo.The law enforcers have been blaming the JMB – formed in 1998 and banned in 2005 – for the July 1 attack on a Gulshan restaurant and the July 7 attack on the police near Sholakia Eid congregation in Kishoreganj. But international militant group Islamic State claimed responsibilities for the Gulshan attack, but no one took credit for the attack in Kishoreganj. Since September last year, IS claims their members have carried out 25 attacks that killed 44 people.

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Also read: JMB denies links to recent attacks

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In the memory cards, the JMB faction, led by fugitive death-row convict Salauddin alias Salehin alias Sajeeb, also gave a statement claiming responsibilities for all the attacks they had carried out during 2002-2016. Chief of the DMP's Counter-Terrorism and Transnational Crimes unit Monirul Islam said that they would scrutinise the statement. “We have much information about the activities of this new group,” he said.

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More here: JMB statement solves many cases

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The Dhaka Tribune on July 10 published two reports based on the statement where the group admitted – for the first time – their involvement in over 1,100 attacks, mostly targeting NGOs, secularists, non-Muslims, Pirs and shrines, and courts and law enforcers. The statement was first published in a Facebook page on June 27 and later found in a jihadi discussion platform named “Dawahilallah.” On the other hand, al-Qaeda affiliate Ansarullah Bangla Team or Ansar Al Islam took credit for 13 attacks since 2013 that killed 11 secularists and injured at least five others.