Strong JMB presence in the north

In some cases, the police even knew beforehand that a militant attack was imminent in the district; but failed to stop it from happening or to apprehend the attackers and the masterminds. The JMB connection to the country's north came to the fore this April when a bomb blast at a militant den in Bogra's Sherpur killed two persons including a top JMB military wing commander named Fardeen. While investigating the case, detectives and Bogra police found that banned militant outfit Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh was operating out of 16 northern districts. A senior official of the Detective Branch told the Dhaka Tribune that the JMB had around 100-150 trained madrasa students working for them in the region. Seeking anonymity, the DB official added these militants were working in small groups of four or five and were being organised and supervised by a highly educated 16-member JMB cell. Interrogation of several militant suspects has revealed that a lot of these militants were previously activists of Jamaat-Shibir, the detective claimed. On the other hand, police's counter-terrorism and transnational crime unit chief, Monirul Islam said they have traced JMB sleeper cells whose objective was to carry out so called jihadi activities in northern districts. “We are trying to identify the members of these sleeper cells and their hideout,” said Monirul, a leading investigator in militant issues of Bangladesh. Bogra police superintendent, Md Asaduzzaman, admitted JMB's presence in the north, but said they had beefed up security in the district following the April 3 bomb blast that killed Fardeen and one more. Recurrence of militant attacks did not mean that there was a lack of security measures in the northern districts, said Alamgir Kabir, superintendent of police in Pabna, where a Hindu monastery staff was killed in the latest militant attack. According to Alamgir, adequate security initiatives were already in place. A senior official at the Police Headquarters in Dhaka told the Dhaka Tribune that instructions have been given to increase security in the districts where attacks were taking place. Intelligence efforts and surveillance have also been increased, he added. On this regard, Rajshahi Range police's Deputy Inspector General M Khurshid Hossain said they were taking special steps to ensure the safety of the people living in the region. The Dhaka Tribune asked Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal whether he considered the police's inability in preventing militant attacks a failure; but he did not give any direct answer to the question. Instead, he said the recent target killings were part of conspiracy by domestic and international groups to create a false situation for government and foil the war crimes trial. The ongoing special police drive would produce results soon, he added. Meanwhile, Inspector General of Police AKM Shahidul Hoque asked for the public's help in resisting these militants, saying the police alone cannot meet the challenge. Addressing a programme in Chittagong yesterday, he however claimed that the number of militants in Bangladesh was very low.