Members of the same faction of banned militant outfit Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh are behind the attempt on Italian pastor Piero Parolari’s life and the attack on Iskcon temple in Dinajpur, police say.
JMB member Shariful Islam, 28, arrested over the Iskcon temple blast and shooting on December 10, in his confessional statement given before a court Thursday said that he along with two others had carried out both the attacks.
Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate FM Ahsanul Haque of Dinajpur recorded the statement under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, Redowanul Rahim, officer-in-charge of Dinajpur police’s Detective Branch, confirmed to the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.
Besides taking responsibility for the Iskcon temple attack, Shariful confessed that the trio had attempted to kill Piero Parolari, 57, in a gun attack near the BRTC bus terminal in Dinajpur town on November 18.
Earlier, international terrorist group Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack on Parolari. Bangladesh government, however, refuted the involvement of the IS in recent attacks.
“In his statement, Shariful said they had used the same motorcycle and pistol in the Iskcon temple attack,” Redowan said.
Two people were injured as three miscreants launched an attack on the temple at Kaharole on December 10 when a religious meeting was under way. Locals chased and caught Shariful while his accomplices fled the scene on the motorcycle.
Another suspected JMB member, Mozammel Huq, 28, was caught by locals from Birganj, near Kaharole, the following day with a semi-automatic rifle. A villager was injured as Mozammel opened fire on the locals at that time. Police suspect that he was involved in the Iskcon temple attack too.
Two separate cases were filed with Kaharol and Birganj police stations. DB police is investigating the two cases and also the one lodged over the attack on Parolari.
Investigation Officer Bazlur Rashid, also a DB inspector, said that they had got the names of suspects involved in the attack on Parolari. “Drives are under way to arrest the culprits,” he said, adding that they had also got some clues over the temple attack incident.
According to DB police, a wing of JMB has been trying to regroup by giving special training to the members in the last two years for launching targeted attacks on religious scholars. They were allegedly involved in the murder of Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat leader Nurul Islam Faruqi, Gopibagh six murders and former PDB chairman Khijir Khan, police said.
Monirul Islam, joint commissioner of DB police, told the Dhaka Tribune that the JMB, banned in 2005, was operating their activities in two groups and that the new group is led by Mahfuz.
“We have already arrested a number of followers of the group. We have also solved Khijir Khan and Gopibagh six murders,” he claimed.
Meanwhile, Dinajpur police said they were yet to get any clue about the involvement of JMB in the bomb blasts during the annual Raash Mela on Kantaji temple premises in Kaharole on December 5 that left 10 people injured.
Since the attack took place, authorities have withdrawn the OC and a sub-inspector of Kaharole police apart from changing the investigation officer of the case.
Sources said that the blasts were a result of conflict between two local Awami League leaders over the lease of the Raash Mela.