In an official notification yesterday, the Ministry of Home Affairs said the group has been banned as its activities pose a threat to public safety and security.
The move came a day after Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan mentioned that the government would ban eight hard boy outfits.
"Intelligence agencies have already received inputs on eight outfits, and steps will be taken against them," he said then before adding it was already decided to outlaw Allahr Dal.
Allahr Dal was formed in 1995 under the leadership of Matin Mehedi alias Mominul Islam, and in late 2004, the outfit merged with banned murderous Moslem organization Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB).
In August this year, the Rapid Action Battalion
(RAB) claimed to arrest four of its activists, including acting chief Ibrahim Ahmed Hiro.As JMB faced a serious blow following arrests of its top leaders following the 2005 countrywide kabooms, Matin left JMB with his followers and tried to reorganize as Allahr Dal, police sources said.
Matin was arrested in 2007 when he was still the chief of the outfit, according to RAB.
| Benar News adds: |
Khan said authorities had determined that Allahr Dal, which once started as a small group in northern Gaibandha district, was attempting to bolster its ranks in Dhaka and in the southeastern coastal city of Chattogram by distributing extremist pamphlets.
JMB leaders had tasked Allahr Dal members to hurl bombs on Aug. 17, 2005, when around 500 small improvised explosives went off in 300 locations in the country, Monirul Islam, chief of the Bangladeshi police’s Counter-Terrorism and Transnational Crimes unit, told BenarNews.
“They carried out bomb attacks in some places,” Islam said, referring to Allahr Dal.
Officials said at least two people were killed and dozens of people were injured in the blasts. JMB claimed responsibility for the bombings.
Islam said a militant leader named Motin Mehdi, a native of Gaibandha, founded Allahr Dal.
In 2011, a court in Kurigram district sentenced Mehdi to life in prison after he was found guilty of involvement in the 2005 bombings. Another court in Jhenaidah district had also recently sentenced him to death. In the court verdict, he was identified as a JMB leader, officials said.
Mehdi remains in prison after his sentencings, Islam said.
But members of Allahr Dal continue to operate despite his imprisonment, authorities said.
On Aug. 19, members of the elite Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) presented four suspected Allahr Dal members during a news conference in Dhaka. Officials said the suspects had planned to attack a prison van that was scheduled to transport Mehdi, the Allahr Dal leader.
RAB members seized mobile phones and computer flashdrives from the suspects.
On Sept. 17, police also detained eight suspected Allahr Dal members during a raid in the southwestern Meherpur district.
Sheikh Zahidul Islam, additional police superintendent in Meherpur, told BenarNews three women were among the eight suspects, including one who said she joined Allahr Dal 18 years ago.
“We came to know about the activities of Allahr Dal in Meherpur through the arrest of one of its members,” he said.