6 'suicide attackers' arrested in city
Rab yesterday claimed to have arrested six suicide attackers who were planning to “carry out subversive activities” in the capital.
The six -- five from the banned Jama'atul Mujahedeen Bangladesh (JMB) and one from Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT) -- were arrested from different areas in the capital on Tuesday night.
Rab said they recovered nine improvised explosive devices, five hand grenades, 13 detonators, two pistols, some machetes and knives and bomb-making materials from the arrestees.
A map detailing the location of Shah Ali Mazar in Mirpur was also found in their possession, and Rab officials suspect the Mazar was on their hit list.
Three of the “militants” were detained from a house near the Mazar. They rented the house a couple of days ago, Rab said.
“We came to know that the six militants gathered in the capital for a suicide attack,” Commander Mufti Mahmud Khan, Rab's legal and media wing director, told a press briefing at its headquarters in Uttara.
At the briefing, Rab gave a presentation of “secret communication” allegedly recovered from the militants' mobile phones.
Of the arrestees, ABT man Mostafizur Rahman alias Sifat, 27, had been working as an administrator of At-tamkin webpage which propagated many of the recent killings and terrorist attacks in the country, Mufti claimed.
The webpage is run mainly by JMB. After carrying out attacks, they publicise those on the webpage as acts of Islamic State to draw attention, he added.
In addition to taking credits, the administrators of the page provided information to IS's official website Amaq, said a top Rab official, preferring anonymity.
Asked if Sifat was the only administrator, Mufti Mahmud said there might be several of them.
The five alleged JMB men are Jahid Anwar alias Porag, 22, a third-year student of a government college in the capital, Tajul Islam alias Tajul, 29, Jahid Hasan alias Main, 21, Jiyabul Hoque, 24, and Nayan Hossain, 21.
Rab could not immediately provide any past records of the six.
It is also not clear if they are on the police and Rab lists of missing people, some of them suspected to have been radicalised.
The arrests come amid fear of further militant attacks. There have been dozens of suspected militant attacks in the country over the past three years, the latest and the deadliest two being the July 1 Gulshan café siege and the Eid day attack on police members in Sholakia of Kishoreganj.
The terror group IS and ABT took credit for many of the attacks. The government insists IS has no presence in the country and blames it all on opposition parties and militants linked to them, including JMB.
The JMB never publicly said it was behind any of the past attacks.
Mufti Mahmud said a faction of JMB and some ABT men were working under the banner of Dawlatul Islam.
Rab officials claimed that the JMB men under the banner carried out at least 11 attacks, including the Gulshan café attack, and the attack on Madaripur college teacher Ripon Chakraborty.
They said that Jiyabul, one of the six arrested, stayed in Sylhet for several days with three attackers of Ripon.
He was to lead the attack but their leader stopped him before their trip to Madaripur, saying he had to carry out another mission, officials added.
Ripon survived the attack. One alleged attacker, Faizullah Fahim, who was caught by locals, was later killed in a “gunfight” between police and his accomplices.
HOW THE MILITANTS WORK
The militants mainly recruit people though social media, including Facebook, Rab said, quoting the arrestees.
Finding out like-minded people browsing their Facebook pages, they send different types of articles and videos, including those that provoke Jihad.
Those found interested in Jihad and proved to be faithful are included in a secret group of Telegram app. The leaders then start instigating them by sharing video clips of torture on Muslims and success of militants across the country and the world, according to Rab.
Members of the group use codenames for communication. It is forbidden to ask personal details in the group. At one stage, they are asked if they are ready to abandon their families, relatives and jobs and join Jihad.
Those who are proved trusted are then shifted to another secret group on Threema app where they are trained on different things online. An Ameer or his nominated leader controls the activities of the group, Rab said.
At one stage, five to six members prepare for an attack. After executing an operation, the members join another such secret group.
Alongside collecting money from like-minded people, militants used to collect funds through different mobile banking systems and bank accounts in the past. As those systems proved risky, the militants started gold smuggling for terror financing, Rab said.
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