Banned Islamist outfit Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) cadres are regrouping along with the fellow militants of Insaf and Allar Dal to see through the job of establishing Islamic law in the country.
| Meet the new JMB, same as the old JMB, now with new packaging and 20% more Purity™ |
| It's longer, lower, leaner, wider, with more road-hugging weight! |
According to intelligence sources and information obtained from detainees, the three outfits are now operating under a single banner whose name changes too frequently to keep track of it.
| Whoa! There it went again! |
Determined to make up for the loss of their spearheads, they have launched a fresh recruitment drive stealthily, said an intelligence official seeking anonymity.
| "Join now! The organization with the rapidly changing name wants YOU!" |
In a secret ballot immediately after the president had turned down the clemency pleas of militant leader Abdur Rahman and his deputies, the JMB, its offshoot Allar Dal, and Insaf, a group led by an Ahle Hadith faction, elected Moulana Sayeedur Rahman alias Abu Jafar as their ameer (commander). In a series of meetings, they reconstituted a six-member Majlish-e-Shura (highest policy-making body) and appointed nine chiefs for as many operational divisions. Besides, the militant remnants vowed to take up the job where it was left off by the executed JMB top brass. They set police, Rapid Action Battalion (Rab), judges, Ahmadiyya mosques and NGOs as prime targets for attacks.
Intelligence officials have gathered that the militants have plans to blast less powerful bombs and carry out the main attack when the law enforcers will be busy at the first explosion site. Despite knowing this beforehand, the law enforcers could not pre-empt the three near-simultaneous explosions at railway stations in Dhaka, Chittagong and Sylhet on May 1. The failure to net the ones leading the regenerated militant campaign led to the blasts that harked back to the August 17 countrywide attacks. Besides, those detained for involvement in militancy did not give enough leads, said sources close to those working on the Islamist groups.
 The intelligence agencies are now examining if the latest blasts bear any links to the three groups.| Linked like little sausages to the sow, they are. |
The post-Abdur Rahman JMB cadres have decided to remain clean-shaven and not to wear pajamas or punjabis. They believe this would make it difficult for the law enforcers to suspect them by the way they look, added the sources. Following intelligence reports, the authorities have directed the district administration to be on the alert for the regrouped militants. Accordingly, police in different districts have undertaken programmes seeking to aware the locals so that the militants cannot operate under cover.
The JMB men had observed a seven-day mourning for its executed leaders. In Bogra, they distributed leaflets asking people to keep a sombre mood during the mourning period.The six members of the recast Majlish-e-Shura are Amir Abu Jafar, Anwar Hossain alias Faruq alias Tanvir, Asadul Islam alias Arif alias Maruf, Sayeed alias Russell alias Zubaer, Mahfuz alias Sohel alias Mamun and Abdullah Taslim alias Nahid alias Biplob.
Jahidul Islam Sumon alias Mizan alias Kamrul alias Nayan of Sheker Vita of Jamalpur has been appointed the military expert of the new JMB for his expertise in explosives, firearms and ammunition, intelligence officials said.| That's a lot of aliases for one man. Must be hard to remember who he is each morning. |
Those in charge of nine divisions are Rokon alias Leon (Dhaka south), Salahuddin alias Nadim (Dhaka north), Mushad alias Roman (Narsinghdi), Ashiq alias Abul Quasem (Narayanganj), Abdullah Taslim alias Nahid (Tangail), Anwar alias Faruq alias Tanjil (Mymensingh and Sylhet division), Mahfuz alias Sohel alias Abu Sayeed (Khulna), Mehedi Hasan alias Abir (Barisal) and Sayeed alias Russell alias Zubaer (Rajshahi).| It's not clear to me how the authorities know the identities and aliases of all these men,know how many ballots it took to elect the thug-in-chief, and know they've swapped out their turbans and pj's for street clothes, and don't have any of them in custody... |
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