Two of the five young militants who slaughtered 20 innocent people at the Holey Artisan Bakery in the Bangladeshi capital used to follow three controversial Islamists — Anjem Choudary, Shami Witness and Zakir Naik.
Nibras Islam, 22, used to follow two alleged suspected recruiters of Islamic State — Anjem Choudary and Shami Witness — on Twitter in 2014, reported The Daily Star.
Another young militant Rohan Imtiaz, son of an Awami League leader, propagated on Facebook last year quoting Peace TV’s controversial preacher Zakir Naik “urging all Muslims to be terrorists”.
A Pakistan-origin British citizen, 49-year-old Anjem is now facing trial in England for breaking the British anti-terrorism law.
Shami Witness is the Twitter name of 24-year-old Mehdi Masroor Biswas of Bengaluru in India, who is also facing trial for running propaganda for the Islamic State.
Biswas was arrested in December 2014 following an investigation into his Twitter account which was last active in August 2014.
Anjem’s twitter account became inactive from August 2015 after terror charges were brought against him.
Naik, a controversial preacher from India, is banned in the UK, Canada and Malaysia. He is widely popular in Bangladesh through his Peace TV, although his preaching often demeans other religions including other Muslim sects.
The Daily Star said this indicates that Nibras and Rohan did not become radicalised overnight. They have been consuming radical materials for one to two years before finally disappearing in February-March and reappearing as “killers” on Friday night’s carnage at the Holey Artisan Bakery.
From their pictures posted by the Islamic State media and recirculated by the Search for International Terrorist Entities (SITE) Intelligence Group, it can be assumed that these young men received arms training after their disappearance, specifically to carry out the killing mission on July 1, reported Daily Star.
Their attire with Islamic State logo in the backdrop, the automatic rifles held in their hands, reveal they underwent an organised training which is far from anything amateurish.
The killers released some of the hostages 15 minutes before the army-led operation codenamed ‘Operation Thundebolt’ on Saturday morning also showed the depth of their indoctrination — that they were ready to die.
The killers had uploaded grisly pictures of their horrendous deeds at the Holey Artisan Bakery by midnight Friday — which was re-uploaded by the Islamic State media.
These pictures widely circulated on the internet also reveal the mind set of the killers. All the women victims were blurred in the pictures. Militants say it is a sin to show pictures of women, who they do not mind killing or raping.
The family of one of the six Bangladeshi terrorists killed in the July 1 night Dhaka cafe attack is being quizzed while two suspects are in custody, officials said. Families across Bangladesh are also being asked to report to authorities if any of their members are missing.
Police in Bogra, in Rajshahi in northern Bangladesh, is reported to be quizzing the family of one of the six Islamist gunmen killed in the operation to free the hostages taken during a terrorist strike at a cafe in Gulshan area of Dhaka.
The terrorist whose family is being questioned has been identified as ‘Bandhon’.
Bogra Superintendent of Police Mohd Asaduzzaman told bdnews24.com that three persons were taken into custody to identify ‘Bandhon’.
Mohd Imran, the local union council chairman in Shajahanpur Upazila, said the name of the person identified merely as ‘Bandhon’ is, in fact, Mohd Khairuzzaman, a madrasa student who has been missing for a year. “Police have picked up his parents and brother-in-law,” he said.
Another attacker, identified by police as ‘Bikash’, is also reportedly from Bogra. Police identified three other attackers as ‘Akash’, ‘Don’, and ‘Ripon’.
Meanwhile, Rapid Action Battalion has asked families across Bangladesh to report to authorities if any of their members are missing.
The request from RAB chief Benazir Ahmed on Monday came following reports that at least two of the attackers of the Holey Artisan Bakery and O’ Kitchen restaurant had been missing for a long time.
In Dhaka, Inspector General of Police (IGP) A.K.M. Shahidul Hoque said that two suspects have been taken into custody over the Gulshan cafe attack in which 20 hostages, mostly foreign nationals, and two police officers were killed on Friday night.
Hoque did not disclose the identities of either of the detainees or where they were being kept while talking to media at Army Stadium in Banani, reports the Daily Star.
He said that both men were unwell and will be quizzed after their condition improves.
“One of them is in hospital, the other is in custody,” said Hoque.
Earlier, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and the Bangladesh Army spoke of one attacker being held alive from the Gulshan cafe attack scene. However, his identity was not disclosed.
IGP Hoque stressed on the “success” of ‘Operation Thunderbolt’, the mission carried out by Bangladesh Army-led joint forces, that managed to secure 13 hostages safely out of the Holey Artisan Bakery cafe and O’ kitchen restaurant, where seven terrorists stormed in shouting “Allahu akbar”.
The terrorist killed all those who failed to recite Quran. Those killed included an Indian student, an American, seven Japanese and nine Italians and two Bangladehi police officials.
Hoque added that the names of the militants, who died during operation, were fake names. “We were searching for these militants for some time.”
Islamabad on Monday rejected Indian media reports alleging Pakistan’s involvement in the brutal Dhaka attack.
Pakistan’s Foreign Office spokesman Nafees Zakaria termed the allegations baseless and the reports as “highly regrettable”, Dawn online reported.
A section of India media reported that Bangladesh Information Minister Hasanul Haq and Adviser to Bangladesh Prime Minister Gowher Rizvi blamed Pakistan and its intelligence agency Inter-Services Intelligence for the terror attack in Dhaka on July 1 night.
“These stories are utterly baseless and unfounded. Pakistan strongly rejects such allegations,” Zakaria said in a statement. “The reports are irresponsible and provocative.”
He said Pakistan deeply appreciates Gowher Rizvi’s timely rebuttal of the media reports regarding the attack that was claimed by the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group.
Rizvi contacted the Pakistani High Commissioner in Bangladesh and said the Bangladesh government did not issue any such statement and that the Indian media reports were false.
He also advised the Pakistani High Commissioner to convey this clarification to the Pakistani government in order to avoid any misunderstanding between the two sides.
Pakistan on Saturday condemned the Dhaka terror attack and expressed solidarity with the government and the people of Bangladesh, and offered condolences to the families of those killed in the strike.
Zakaria in a statement said Pakistan condemns terrorism in all its forms and manifestations.
“Being a victim of terrorism itself, Pakistan welcomes Gowher Rizvi’s call for global cooperation to fight the menace.”
Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen on Monday said her country has no freedom of expression as is evident in murders of bloggers and writers.
“There is no freedom of expression in Bangladesh. So many bloggers, writers were killed only for expressing views different from that of fundamentalists. Many bloggers were imprisoned,” she told TV channel CNN-News 18.
Nasreen, who has been living outside Bangladesh for many years, said the government failed to give security to the writers leading to their steady exodus.
“Many bloggers left the country for America, Germany, India and Nepal. Many secular bloggers stopped writing because of fear,” she added.
Nasreen said home grown terrorists were behind Friday’s terror attack in Bangladesh capital Dhaka, which killed 28 people including one Indian.
“It is home grown terrorists but they have good links with ISIS (Islamic State) and Al Qaeda,” the writer said.
She criticized Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for ignoring the situation in the country.
“Hasina always tried to ignore that Islamization started in Bangladesh and also that fundamentalists are rising and terrorists are growing,” Nasreen said.
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