‘Tamim planned Gulshan attack in Kolkata’

Indian national Mohammad Masiuddin alias Abu Musa, a key Islamic State operative arrested in West Bengal last month, has told investigators that he met two JMB leaders in Kolkata before the Gulshan terror attack, reports Deccan Chronicle One of the duo is Mohammed Suleiman, a leader of banned militant group Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh who travelled to Kolkata two days after the murder of Rajshahi University teacher Prof AFM Rezaul Karim on April 23, Musa claimed during interrogation. He said that Suleiman was involved in both the attacks, later claimed by IS through its media wing Amaq news agency. “Suleiman and another JMB man associated with Islamic State met Musa at Malda station in West Bengal,” the Indian newspaper said. Suleiman stayed at a hotel in Kolkata. His associate, who was linked to the JMB and IS, could not be identified. The Indian Intelligence Bureau (IB) believes that Suleiman could be Abu Ibrahim al-Hanif alias Tamim Ahmed Chowdhury, who is leading the New JMB faction – responsible for the targeted killings that took place since last year and claimed by IS – after he left Canada in 2013. Police earlier put Tk20 lakh bounty each for Tamim and another militant kingpin Maj (sacked) Syed Mohammad Ziaul Huq, who is leading outlawed group Ansarullah Bangla Team. Detectives in Dhaka claim that they both are now staying in Bangladesh and are conducting raids to arrest them. A team of Bangladesh Police’s elite force Rapid Action Battalion travelled to India last week to interrogate Musa over his links to the July 1 Holey Artisan Bakery attack that claimed the lives of 24 persons, mostly foreigners. Three RAB officials including an IT expert and a commander-rank official interrogated Musa for several hours on August 16. Musa was arrested from Burdwan last month, reported Times of India. According to the Indian National Intelligence Agency, the JMB has a strong base in West Bengal. Md Moniruzzaman, assistant inspector general of police (confidential), confirmed that Musa was a JMB member. “We are scrutinising the information we have got about him,” he told the Dhaka Tribune. Chief of the Counter-Terrorism and Transnational Crime unit Monirul Islam thinks Tamim and Zia are hiding somewhere inside Bangladesh. “We have evidence that they were present in Dhaka during the Gulshan attack and the raid at a Kallyanpur raid in July,” he told the Dhaka Tribune. Meanwhile, police say Rajshahi University’s English department student and JMB leader Shariful Islam Khalid alias Rahat alias Talha masterminded the murder of his teacher Prof Rezaul Karim. Police also declared Tk1 lakh bounty for his arrest.