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Bangladesh cracks down on extremists

Bangladesh has a long-standing reputation as a traditionally moderate nation. That’s why the international community has been so alarmed by a series of deadly attacks there throughout 2015 on foreigners, secular bloggers and Shiite mosques. It’s also caused Bangladeshi authorities to react aggressively to the attacks with investigations and arrests.

Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal recently said terrorism would not be tolerated in his country. “Bangladesh will be made a peaceful and developed country by combating militants at any cost,” he told an audience in October 2015 at a cultural function in the nation’s capital, according to the Dhaka Tribune newspaper.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) has claimed responsibility for some of the recent attacks by posting statements on ISIL-affiliated Twitter accounts, according to The Associated Press. However, Bangladeshi security officials reject those claims and assert that ISIL has no footprint in the country, according to various media reports. Instead, they accuse homegrown militant groups such as Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) of instigating the violence in an attempt to destabilize the country.

In the wake of the attacks, authorities have announced a number of recent arrests:

  • In early December 2015, police in the capital of Dhaka arrested six members of a new militant group called Mujahid of Bangladesh, described as followers of al-Qaida. “The militant group was planning to kill a pir (religious preacher) in Dhaka,” Detective Branch Joint Commissioner Monirul Islam said at a news conference, according to the Dhaka Tribune. “They are using Facebook to communicate among themselves, to collect members and seek financial help.”
  • In late November 2015, police arrested six JMB members in connection with an October 2015 bombing at an annual Shiite Muslim rally. Bombs lobbed into the crowd killed two and wounded dozens, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported. “The Rapid Action Battalion, the country’s elite security force, said it believed the bombs used were improvised explosive devices,” AFP reported. Police said they later killed the ringleader of the attack in a shootout in a Dhaka suburb.
  • The alleged chief and seven other members of a militant organization called Ansarullah Bangla Team were indicted and are now facing trial. “The group, now banned in Bangladesh, has claimed responsibility for the killings of four secular bloggers this year,” Reuters reported in late November 2015.
  • In a separate case in December 2015, security forces arrested six suspects accused of human trafficking, currency smuggling and militant activity, Reuters reported. They seized 10 million counterfeit Indian rupees, 624,000 Bangladeshi taka (U.S. $8,000), and large sums of U.S. dollars, Pakistani rupees, UAE dirhams and Saudi riyals. “We are investigating whether they were mobilizing funds for militant activities,” a spokesman for the Rapid Action Battalion told Reuters.

Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, the Bangladeshi home minister in charge of the country’s internal security, told the Dhaka Tribune that the government was taking steps to set up closed-circuit television cameras at major points in a number of cities.

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