Bangladesh Terror Attacks Threaten Christian Leaders, Gov't, NGOs
A banned Islamic militant group with training and links to Al Qaeda is on a deadly campaign to force Bangladesh to obey Islamic rule, staging attacks on those that stand in the way including the secular government, Christian leaders, and NGOs.
A banned Islamic militant group with training and links to Al Qaeda is on a deadly campaign to force Bangladesh to obey Islamic rule, staging attacks on those that stand in the way including the secular government, Christian leaders, and NGOs.
In the past three months, there have been continuous bombings in Bangladesh, mainly targeted at secular courts and judges. Yet the Islamic militant group Jumatul Majahideen (Assembly of Holy Warriors) Bangladesh (JMB) also declared it will direct attacks at NGOs and non-Muslim religious figures and institutions engaged in “anti-Islamic activities,” reported the World Evangelical Alliance-Religious Liberty Commission (WEA-RLC). In addition, reports inform that Bangladesh has about 172 terror training camps and that JMB has a 2,000-strong suicide force
In one recent case, suicide bombers – whom police believe are from the Islamic militant group JMB – struck law courts in two Bangladeshi cities on Nov. 29, killing at least ten people and wounding around 60, according WEA-RLC.
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The first bombing occurred at 9:05 am in Bangladesh’s second largest city, the port city of Chittagong, where police were checking all visitors in response to terror threats received earlier. The bomber, before police inspection, threw an explosive device at the officers and detonated another explosive device attached to his leg, killing two policemen and injuring 16 people – of which 13 were policemen. The bomber- identified as Abul Bashar, 19 - survived but lost both his legs and his right hand.
“I attacked the Chittagong court by the order of Allah,” said Bashar, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP). “I did not do any wrong in carrying out the suicidal attack.”
A report by the Bangladesh independent online news said that police found a JMB leaflet in the young bomber’s pocket that warned police, judges and lawyers “to stop upholding man-made laws which go against Islam.”
The second bombing took place at 9:40 am in Gazipur, where a bomber disguised in a lawyer’s black gown was able to walk pass security and detonate the bomb in the bar library. The attack killed three people immediately, with four seriously injured victims dying afterwards.
Bangladesh is a South Asian country which fought, more than 30 years ago, a costly Liberation War to be independent from Pakistan and secular; the country lost 500,000 to three million lives during the fight. Now, Islamic militants are using violence to force Bangladesh to become an Islamic state.
Similarly, on Dec. 1, another bomb explosion occurred outside of the chief government administrator’s office in Gazipur as lawyers were staging a demonstration. Two died and 30 were injured as a result.
“The suspected bomber…disguised himself as a tea vendor,” Kazi Fazle Rabbi, Gazipur district commissioner, said according to NEWS.com.au. “One of his flasks exploded when police stopped him for checking.”
There were additional bombings attributed to the JMB in Oct., Nov., and Dec., mainly targeted at secular judges and courts.
Moreover, on Aug. 22, Bangladesh’s leading national Bengali daily newspaper reported that the Intelligence Department had informed the government that Islamic militants were planning to attack the largest non-Muslim religious centers in the capital city Dhaka. The Intelligence Department further reported that the militant group threatened to kill local and foreign non-Muslim leaders, missionaries, priests, humanitarian workers and anyone preaching religions other than Islam. According to WEA-RLC, Christianity was to be particularly targeted for the purpose of discrediting the government of Bangladesh in the West.
"Everybody is the enemy of Islam who wants to launch democracy as an institutional form. Therefore we invite the ruling party and also the opposition to initiate the rule of Islam within a short time in Bangladesh," the JMB declared after a massive terror attack in August.
On Aug. 17, JMB was responsible for a nation-wide terror attack setting off nearly 500 small improvises explosive devices (IEDs) almost simultaneously in 63 of Bangladesh’s 64 districts, resulting in three deaths and more than 150 injured reported Stratfor Terrorism Brief. Reports by Stratfor Terrorism Brief on Nov. 23 informed that pamphlets were found near many of the explosive devices demanding the expulsion of foreign NGO’s (Non-government organization) “engaged in anti-Islamic activities in Muslim countries.”
"The unabated mushrooming of terror camps" in Bangladesh, and the fact
that Bangladesh is becoming "a hub of infiltrators and fundamentalist forces," Director General RS Mooshahary, India’s Border Security Force, said during a press conference according to Webindia on Nov.29, threatens to destabilize the whole region.
"In the long run," warned Gen. Mooshahary, "Bangladesh could be a greater problem than Pakistan going by the shifting of population, massive infiltration bids and mushrooming of terror camps... it has become a hub of drug dealers and smugglers."
