Members of a pro-Islamic State Telegram channel have urged jihadists in Bangladesh to spearhead a military support campaign for Rohingya Muslims.
They have advised local IS supporters to smuggle weapons, train Rohingyas and form a jihadist group to pledge allegiance to the IS chief and fight in Myanmar until establishing Wilayah Arakan, according to US-based watchdog SITE Intelligence Group.
During this time, the Muslims in Malaysia have been asked to manage some land and build houses for the Rohingyas “everywhere in Malaysia,” and bring in Rohingyas from Rakhine State and those living in registered camps in Cox’s Bazar of Bangladesh.
They made the suggestion considering that Malaysia has “accepted Rohingya refugees for now.”
Pro-IS Telegram Channel Urges Jihadists in Bangladesh to Smuggle Weapons Into and Fight in Myanmar, Train Rohingya https://t.co/tkvlgp5dLP
— SITE Intel Group (@siteintelgroup) February 28, 2017
The discussion on “LM” channel, acronym for “Lone Mujahid,” was launched on February 28 with a series of English posts from a pro-IS Malaysian Telegram channel. They were discussing the Malaysian government’s sending an aid flotilla with food and other relief for the Rohingyas in Myanmar.
The ship, barred allegedly by Myanmar hardliner Buddhists, reached Chittagong last month with nearly 2,000 tonnes of aid materials.
The Malaysian government came down heavily on the Myanmar government for the atrocities against the minority Rohingya people launched in the name of clearance operations after the October 9 attacks on its border outposts.
Since then, some 75,000 Rohingya Muslims have taken shelter in Bangladesh, and many of them have shared horrifying stories of mass killings, rape, torture, abduction and arson attacks by the Myanmar security forces.
There are over 30,000 registered Rohingya refugees living in two camps of Cox’s Bazar while the number of undocumented Rohingyas would be more than 300,000.
Also Read: Rohingya women: The face of unspeakable horror
Saudi-backed Rohingya militant group, Harakah al-Yakin, claimed responsibility for the attacks while talking to the Dhaka Tribune. The outfit, formed after the 2012 sectarian violence, carried out more attacks in the next two months on the Myanmar security forces.
After the attacks, international militant groups including IS and al-Qaeda extended support to HaY, and urged the Rohingyas in Bangladesh and Myanmar to launch armed jihad and avenge the atrocities. Moreover, local banned outfit Hizb ut-Tahrir asked Bangladesh Army to take stand against Myanmar to avenge the persecution of the Rohingyas.
The supporters of IS and al-Qaeda in Bangladesh have killed more than 60 people and injured scores of others in the last couple of years, with a view to establishing a Shariah state in the country with parts of Myanmar and India.
Also Read: Wider support for Rohingya terrorists hints at further attacks
The latest IS call urges Bangladeshi jihadists to gather weapons and deploy to Myanmar, and employ guerrilla warfare and defence techniques against the Buddhists in Rakhine State and the Myanmar government, and training the Rohingyas to fight, as well.
One of the members of the channel added: “Take heed from the ones who slapped amerika [sic] in her face (Vietnamese) they created a system of smuggling from the north to the south and vice versa by a network of underground tunnels transporting weapons/food and SOLDIERS.”
The IS jihadists have asked the Malaysian Muslims to pledge to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the IS leader, and then posted its own idea on the channel.
Earlier in November, a pro-IS Telegram channel suggested that Muslims in the United Kingdom who cannot go to Myanmar help their brethren can attack the country’s embassy and ambassador at home.
Also Read: ‘We will fight until the last drop of blood’
On November 30, jihadist activity monitoring website SITE Intelligence Group said that the Afghan Taliban had reiterated its call to Muslims as well as Islamic charitable organisations to take action in support of their brethren in Myanmar, and condemned what it sees as global silence to the ongoing “genocide.”
On the other hand, al-Qaeda’s Bangladesh offshoot Ansar al-Islam asked the Rohingyas and the Muslim youths of Bangladesh to join the fight in a public statement issued on December 15.
Also Read: Are terrorists infiltrating Rakhine state?
