Bangladesh: Timeline (Terrorist Activities) -2008

Police on January 5 recovered four grenades, one sub-machine gun and 167 rounds of bullets at Balianpur of Monirampur sub-district in the Jessore district, reports Daily Star. Police sources said that the recovery followed the sighting of a grenade by children near a farm. No one was arrested in connection with the recovery. Read less...

Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) personnel on January 8 recovered 12 kilograms of gunpowder and five kilograms of explosives from Digholshingha village at Chowgachha in the Jessore district, reports Daily Star. The explosives were hidden in sacks containing radish and were to be loaded in a Jessore bound truck. No one, however, could be arrested as the persons involved had managed to flee the scene before the arrival of the RAB personnel. Read less...

On January 9, Police arrested a Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) militant while photocopying a leaflet at Sardarpara in Jamalpur town, reports Daily Star. The militant, identified as Moazzem Hossain Mollah of Ghatbila village in Mollarhat sub-district in the Bagerhat district was subsequently produced before a court in Jamalpur which placed him on a 10-day remand on January 10. Police sources said that the leaflet contained 'motivational speeches' of executed JMB leaders Shaikh Abdur Rahman, Ataur Rahman Sunny and Abdul Awal. Following Moazzem's preliminary confession, police raided his rented house at Adipaita village in Melandaha sub-district in the district on the same night and recovered some more leaflets. Read less...

The Parbatya Chattagram Jana Sanghati Samity (PCJSS) on January 10 urged the caretaker government to have dialogues with it under the government's initiative of dialogues with political parties, reports Daily Star. Rupayan Dewan, councillor of Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) Regional Council and central committee member of PCJSS, in a press release said the appointment of a set of five new advisors to the caretaker government is an important step for a credible election at the earliest. Read less...

Daily Star reports that on January 11, Kamrul Ahsan alias Himu Khan, a left-wing extremist belonging to the Sarbahara Party, was arrested by the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) personnel while holding a secret meeting of armed cadres of his outfit at Agorpur Bazaar in the Barisal district. A pipe gun and two bullets were recovered from the arrested extremist described as a leader of the Zia group and former chairman of the union parishad (local government body) of Agorpur. RAB sources said that Kamrul is an accused in five cases for murder and extortion. Read less...

The Hindu reports that Abdus Salam Pintu, former Deputy Minister in the Khaleda Zia Cabinet in Bangladesh, has admitted before a Dhaka court on January 18 that the then Home Minister, Lutfozzaman Babar, and Ms. Zia’s son, Tariq Rahman, had given the nod for the August 21, 2004 grenade attack on the Awami League (AL) rally in capital Dhaka that led to the death of 23 AL activists. Pintu, who is currently under detention, said the plan was to kill AL leader Sheikh Hasina and senior leaders of the party. Pintu is the brother of Maulana Tajul Islam, a militant leader, who reportedly supplied the grenade to Harkat-ul Jihad-al Islami-Bangladesh (HuJI-B) leader Mufti Hannan to conduct the “operation.” Both Babar and Rahman are now facing charges of corruption and misuse of power and are under detention. Read less...

A former zonal chief of the Purba Banglar Communist Party (PBCP), identified as Arif allias Badal, was killed during a shootout with Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and police personnel at Ramjibanpur village in the Sujanagar sub-district of Pabna district on January 20, reports Daily Star. Arif’s accomplices, however, managed to escape. A single barrel gun, a shutter gun, a light machine gun and two bullets were recovered from the encounter site. RAB sources said that Arif, accused in several cases including nine for murder, had recently formed a new faction 'Maobadi Sangha Bangladesh'. Read less...

A judicial magistrate court in Chuadanga on January 20 sent arrested journalist Rafiq Rahman, working for a Dhaka based vernacular daily Bhorer Kagoj, to jail. He had earlier been arrested on January 19 on the basis of a statement by Akram Hossain, an extremist belonging to the PBCP-Marxist–Leninist (PBCP-ML). He has been accused of printing posters of the outfit in his printing press. Read less...

A left-wing extremist leader belonging to the Red Flag faction of the Swadhin Purba Bangla Communist Party-Marxist-Leninist was killed during an encounter with the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) personnel at Ratowal village in the Raninagar sub-district of Naogaon district on January 21, reports Daily Star. The slain extremist, identified as Ajit Pramanik of Bhatkoi village, was the second in command of the outfit and was accused in a number of cases, including five for murder with Atrai and Raninagar police stations. One RAB personnel was injured during the encounter. A foreign pistol, some ammunition and locally made arms were recovered from the encounter site. Read less...

A special judge court in Jamalpur on January 21 sentenced three Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) militants to 34 years' rigorous imprisonment in connection with a grenade attack on police at Bhatara in the Sarishabari sub-district in 2007, reports Daily Star. The convicts identified as Habibur Rahman Yousuf of Satpoa village in Sarishabari sub-district, Sultan and Sohel of Charaildar village in Melandaha sub-district were also fined Taka 8000 each. Five other accused were acquitted. Yousuf was arrested first and following his confession, Sultan and Sohel were arrested at Charaildar village in the Melandaha sub-district on March 24, 2007 and 75 grenade bodies, 77 grenade caps and 27 packets of power gel were recovered from them. Read less...

Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) has submitted a list of 1,626 Bangladeshi criminals hiding in India to the Border Security Force (BSF) during a three-day deputy director general level meeting in Bogra on January 21. Earlier at a BDR-BSF director-general level meeting, India had given Bangladesh a list of 1000 Indian criminals hiding in that country. At a post-meeting joint press conference, both sides said they had reached consensus on all the issues on the agenda regarding border problems and interests of both nations during the meeting. The BDR Deputy Director General Brig Gen MA Bari led the 12-member Bangladesh team in the meeting while the 18-member Indian delegation was led by Inspector General of BSF North Bengal Frontier R. A. Tiwari. Read less...

New Age reports that suspected extremists riding a motorbike killed a local Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) leader at Sailkupa in the Jhenidah district on January 21-evening. Police sources said that the victim, Idris Ali, was the organising secretary of the BNP’s Sailkupa police station unit. However, no outfit has claimed responsibility for the killing. Read less...

Two PBCP cadres were arrested during separate raids in the Meherpur sub-district and two arms and three bombs were recovered from them. They have been identified as Abbas Ali and Amirul Islam Khokon. Read less...

Daily Star reports that the Rapid Action Battalion personnel recovered an AK-47 rifle, bullets and two brass statuettes during separate raids at Raozan and Boalkhali sub-district in the Chittagong district on January 22. No one was arrested in connection with the recovery. Read less...

A speedy trial tribunal in Rajshahi on January 23 sentenced ten cadres of the Purba Banglar Communist Party (PBCP) to death for killing five people, including four policemen, reports Daily Star. The accused had killed four policemen and a leaseholder of Chowbaria Hat of Manda sub-district in the Naogaon district on April 16, 2006 while looting firearms and ammunition. Delivering verdicts in two cases, one for detonating an explosion and the other for the robbery and killings, the tribunal judge A. T. M. Mesbauddoula sentenced seven others to life term imprisonment and four to 10 years rigorous imprisonment. The PBCP cadres sentenced to death include regional organising secretary Nurul Islam Shahin, cadres Tahurul Islam, Shafikul Islam, Abu Bakar Siddik, Nurunnabi Hasan, Shafikul Islam-2, Sanjay Kumar Saha, Pintu, Dilip and Tomal. A total 21 PBCP cadres were accused in the charge sheet of the case. Read less...

Police arrested four members of the banned Harkat-ul-Jihad outfit at Amin hotel in Jessore on January 24-night, reports Daily Star. The arrestees were identified as Faruque Hossain, Idris Ali, Mosharef Hossain and Abdul Jalil of Chapainawabganj. The policemen raided Amin hotel on Chitra road at about 10:00pm after they were informed that a group of Islamist militants staying in the hotel had been circulating leaflets. Read less...

Security measures in the Khulna city were tightened following a threat issued by the Marxist-Leninist (ML) faction of the PBCP. The outfit mailed a hand-written letter to the Khulna Press Club threatening to carry out bomb and grenade attacks to take revenge for the killing of its operation commander Abdur Rashid alias Tapu who was killed in the Fakirhat sub-district of Bagerhat district in 2005. Read less...

A top cadre of the Janajudhdha faction of the Purba Banglar Communist Party (PBCP), identified as Mohammad Ali, was killed by the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) personnel during an encounter at Goaishbari village under Ataikula police station in the Pabna district on January 26, reports Daily Star. Firearms, bullets and bombs were recovered from the incident site. Ali was second-in-command of PBCP-Janajudhdha. The RAB said that he was accused in seven cases for murder, extortion and other crimes, lodged with Ataikula, Santhia and Faridpur police stations. Read less...

Anwarul Islam Dablu, a bodyguard of former lawmaker Moshiur Rahman, was injured when unidentified militants hurled a bomb at him in a tea stall at Adarsha Para in the Jhenidah district on the same night. The report added that the RAB personnel recovered a time bomb from a pond of Montu Laskar in Pabahati village under Sadar sub-district on January 20. Earlier, Sadar police recovered five bombs in an abandoned state from a pond at Pabahati village on January 19. Read less...

Police arrested one militant of the Janajuddha faction of the Purbo Banglar Communist Party (PBCP), identified as Ashraf Ali, from Gilatala in Khulna city on January 27-night, reports Daily Star. He is an accused in an Explosive Substances Act case filed in September 2005 with the Khan Jahan Ali police station. Read less...

The Speedy Trial court in Rajshahi, on January 30, sentenced seven Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) cadres to life imprisonment for carrying out bomb blasts in Chapainawabganj on August 17, 2005, reports Daily Star. The court further fined the convicts identified as Shahidullah Faruk Selim, Abul Kashem Tufan, Shakhawat Hossain Ziad, Abdullah Al Mamun Nasim, Hafez Ali Akbar Riaz, Shafiullah Shahid and Hafijur Rahman Dalim, Taka 10,000 each. Of the seven sentenced, two are still hiding. Read less...

One of the founding members of the New Biplobi Communist Party (NBCP), identified as 57 year old Akdil Hossain alias Buro was killed on January 31 during a shootout between police and his PBCP cadres at Dakshin Mulgram village in the Kushtia district, reports Daily Star. Police raided the village where the NBCP cadres were holding a secret meeting. A shutter gun and eight rounds of bullet were recovered from the encounter site. Akdil's nephew Matiur Rahman Mati, however, alleged that a team of policemen in plain clothes had arrested Akdil while he was purchasing goods at a shop at Rayerbazar in capital Dhaka on January 27. Akdil reportedly was the acting chief of the outfit following the death of NBCP leader Monoranjan Goshai alias Mrinal who was allegedly killed in India in 2007, the report said. Read less...

RAB personnel recovered two powerful bombs at Muslimpara in the Chuadanga district. Read less...

The Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) personnel on January 31 recovered seven bombs from Bhabanipur Binpara in the Shibganj sub-district of Chapainawabganj district, reports Daily Star. No one was arrested in connection with the recovery. Read less...