Austin Bay Blog

Here’s the background from a post on this site in August 2005. Note that first reports indicated there were few casualties (many of the 400 or so bombs detonated were small devices– and the bombs were detonated near-simultanously). Ultimately the Bangladeshi government said the terror attacks killed three-dozen people and wounded 150. (UPDATE: The Times of India says the number of killed last August was 28. The Sydney Morning Herald says 31.) My August post disputed the assertion that Bangladesh was at a “tipping point” (but that’s certainly the mass media impression the jihadists wanted to create — see more on this below).

Several wire services are running reports on the arrest of Bangladesh’s jihadist kingpin Shayek Abdur Rahman.. Reuters provides details on the arrest of bomber-in-chief:

An Islamist militant leader blamed for a string of deadly blasts across Bangladesh is in custody after surrendering following a 24-hour siege, officials said on Wednesday.

They said Shayek Abdur Rahman gave himself up in the northeastern city of Sylhet and was whisked away to the capital, Dhaka, for interrogation.

“Shayek Abdur Rahman along with two of his associates have come out of hiding and surrendered,” said Lieutenant-Colonel Nurul Momen of the elite Rapid Action Battalion.

Authorities tightened security across the nation, fearing a backlash by Shayek’s supporters.

This VOA report adds a couple of interesting sidelights on Rahman’s arrest:

As Rahman was taken away, crowds shouted “Death to the terrorists.” Security analyst Hossain says the bombings had shocked ordinary people across Bangladesh, prompting strong public demands for a crackdown on the extremists.

The bombing campaign shocked the Bangladeshi government. At the time the campaign occurred I read several reports in Indian and Bangladeshi newpapers — Bangladeshis interviewed in Dhaka seemed to think “this can’t happen here.” Note the Bangladeshi government put up reward money for the arrest of Rahman. The jihadist “shock” bombing campaign (the number of bombs, the timing and coordination) was supposed to demonstrate the jihadists’ strength and organizational capabilities. Indeed, Rahman shook the Bangladeshis, but he didn’t ignite a nation-wide jihadist revolt. The mass support isn’t there. The government recently sentenced 21 jihadists to death– they were involved in the attacks.

Still, India is concerned about an “eastern Islamist front.” (India has Kashmir on its western flank and militants in Pakistan.) This UPI report comments on the death sentences and India’s “relief” that Bangladesh takes the jihadist threat seriously.

Another key graf from the UPI report:

This is the first verdict from last August’s serial bombings, which saw over 500 blasts in all but one of Bangladesh’s 64 districts, carefully coordinated to take place within a single hour. Earlier this month, the JMB’s top leaders, Sheikh Abdur Rahman and Siddiqul Islam, alias Bangla Bhai, were sentenced in absentia to 40 years in prison for a bomb attack that killed two judges last November.

What troubles Indian intelligence officials is first that the governing coalition in Bangladesh includes Islamist parties that are sympathetic to some of the Jihadist groups, and second, that the groups depend on financing from Islamic charities based in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf.

Abdur Rahman, the leader of JMB, studied at Madina Islamic University in Saudi Arabia, and worked at the Saudi Embassy in Bangladesh from 1985 to 1989. The RAW dossier that is to be given to the American officials traveling with President Bush claims that the JMB has recruited a special organization of suicide bombers called the Shahid Nasirullah Arafat Brigade, whose members get monthly salaries while in training and whose family are promised substantial sums after the “act of martyrdom.”

The Indian dossier claims the JMB gets funding from the Kuwait-based RIHS (Revival of Islamic Heritage Society), the Rabata al Alam al-Islami, and the al-Hamain Foundation.

JMB = Jamaat-ul Mujahideen Bangladesh

The Bangladeshi government maintains Al Qaeda isn’t active in Bangladesh. Don’t buy that — JMB connects at the ideological and personal level.

Bangladesh does have some adept and experienced security troops. Bangladesh contribute troops to UN missions. A task force has operated in the eastern Congo and served with the South African-Pakistani “rapid reaction unit” — the unit that takes on the toughest combat missions in the Congo. It’s a good bet the troops in Bangladesh’s Rapid Reaction Battalion are not only well-trained but have combat experience (that’s speculation and I’d like to hear from readers who may have served with them or trained with this battalion).