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‘Mahfuz supplied grenades for Gulshan attack’
[Dhaka Tribune] Investigators have found that explosives expert Sohel Mahfuz alias Hat-kata Mahfuz, a big shot of the main JMB who later became part of the New JMB, was linked to the July 1 attack on the Holey Artisan Bakery at Gulshan"We have information that Sohel Mahfuz supplied the grenades used by CT unit sources say Mahfuz was a founding member of the JMB, which was formed in 1998 by former Jamaat leader and Ahle Hadith member Shayakh Abdur Rahman and declared banned in 2005. Abdur Rahman and some of his associates were hanged in 2007. Mahfuz has expertise in making bombs. His left hand was blown off in a kaboom, but he can use a firearms with the other hand. He is a relative of Gulshan attack’s operation commander Nurul Islam Marjan. In his student life, Mahfuz was a member of Islami Chhatra Shibir ... the student wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh... , the radical student wing of Jamaat and later joined the JMB. Hailing from Kushtia, Mahfuz declared himself its chief after the arrest of its second ameer Saidur Rahman in 2010 but it triggered conflict within the group. Later Mahfuz went to Burdwan of India and from there tried to raise a new faction of the JMB with the help of Maulana Abul Kashem, who later became its acting chief. CT unit sources say Mahfuz fled to India and returned home a couple of years ago and started working with the New JMB faction, coordinated by Bangladeshi-born Canadian citizen Tamim Ahmed Chowdhury. He played a key role in supplying arms and bombs for its members. Detectives could not confirm Mahfuz’s position in the outfit. Monirul said Marjan was an important leader of the New JMB and a close aide of Tamim. "More information can be found about the outfit if we can arrest Marjan." He earlier said that they learnt about eight to nine more people who had been behind the Gulshan terror attack. Posted by: Fred 2016-09-04 |
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