The perpetrators of the Hussaini Dalan attack scoped the place for over a month and made detailed surveillance trips to spot any security loopholes before carrying out the attack, a well-placed DB source has said.
Requesting anonymity, a senior official of Detective Branch of police told the Dhaka Tribune they have verified the identities of the attackers and were now trying to arrest the two people who hurled bombs at the crowd in Hussaini Dalan on Saturday.
Sources in DB said although two people physically threw the bombs, there were six members in the group involved in the attack which killed one and injured over a hundred people who had gathered there to bring out a Tazia procession.
The team of attackers had been renting a house in Kamrangirchar since September 19, using it as a base to observe the Hussaini Dalan area for the past month. They even made a map with escape routes based on their observations.
The group even visited Hussaini Dalan just a few hours before the attack to see if there was any lapse in the security measures, according to DB sources.
Asked about updates in the case, DB Joint Commissioner Monirul Islam yesterday confirmed that they now knew the identities of the attackers.
The DB chief added that the three suspects who had been detained earlier have been released as the police could not find any link between them and the attack.
Meanwhile, Masruqure Rahman Khaled, deputy commissioner of DB police, told the Dhaka Tribune that they were now getting a clearer picture about the link between the Hussaini Dalan attack and the recent murder of a police ASI in the capital.
The attack at Hussaini Dalan took place just two days after Darus Salam assistant sub-inspector Ibrahim Hossain Mollah was stabbed to death in Gabtoli. One of the men involved in the ASI murder – Masud Rana Sumon – was held at the scene, while police later identified Bogra Shibir President Enamul Haque as the man wielding the knife that claimed the ASI’s life.
Based on Masud’s information, police recovered bombs from the Kamrangirchar hideout; but the suspect stayed mum about their Hussaini Dalan plot, only to disclose it later during a remand session.
The original plan of attack at Hussaini Dalan reportedly had to be changed after Masud, one of the members of the six-person planning team, was detained.
A senior DB official said Shibir cadres were behind both the Hussaini Dalan attack and the ASI killing, while Enamul masterminded both attacks.