5 years of attack on Holey Artisan today

Although there has been no visible activity in recent times, almost all militant organizations in the country are active in one way or another. Each organization has started various activities including gathering members by creating different groups online. Of these, two of the three militant groups are being operated from abroad. Leaders of other organizations are inside the country. Militant groups have been cornered since the horrific attack on the Holey Artisan Bakery in Dhaka's Gulshan. Today marks the fifth anniversary of that attack.

Experts believe that people, especially young people, have to stay at home most of the time during coronation. So they have been connected online for a long time. Militant groups are seizing the opportunity to spread extremism and recruit members. Most of those arrested by law enforcement in the past year and a half were also active online.

Talking to various sources involved in monitoring and preventing militancy, the three most active organizations discussed are the neo-JMB following the IS ideology and the JMB and Ansar al-Islam following the al-Qaeda ideology. The main leaders of JMB and New JMB are running the organization from abroad. Ansar al-Islam leaders are believed to be in the country, according to law enforcement officials.

Apart from this, the country's oldest militant organization Harkatul Jihad (Huji-B) is now on the verge of extinction. However, it has been reported that some of its older members were involved in the robbery. Another northern-based organization is Allah's party. At one time they were allies of the JMB. They do not have much organizational capacity.

The militants accused of attacking the Holy Artisan on the night of July 1, 2016 were members of the new JMB. The rise of IS (Islamic State) in Iraq and Syria was a major inspiration for these militants. The attack by the Holy Artisan killed 22 locals and foreigners, including two police officers. After that incident, the organizational backbone of the new JMB was broken in a nationwide crackdown. According to the CTTC, 63 militants of the new JMB were killed in 28 major operations. Earlier, 493 people were arrested. The fall of IS in Iraq and Syria in the recent past has also lost the source of inspiration for the organization to recruit new members.

But now analysts fear a new rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan. Because a large part of the militants in this country have been influenced by Afghan-oriented or Taliban ideology from the very beginning. Again, after the fall of Iraq-Syria, a part of IS has moved towards Afghanistan. Experts believe that if they succeed there, it could encourage IS here again.

Raid continues

RAB has arrested 517 people from various militant groups since 2020. Of these, 199 are members of Ansar Al Islam or Ansarullah Bangla team. 189 members of JMB. Nine members of these two organizations also surrendered at the time.

The Anti-Terrorism Unit (ATU) of the police has arrested 94 people in 72 raids since the beginning of last year till June 26. Ansar al-Islam members were the most arrested. 26 of them were arrested. The Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime Unit (CTTC) of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police also made several arrests during this time.

However, the concerned sources also said that the new JMB is trying to recruit members by opening groups under different names through online and social media. Again using different apps for communication. Some leaders are based in Saudi Arabia and Malaysia. They are getting financial help from various well-wishers in these two countries. From April to August 2019, they carried out six bombings and bombings targeting police in different parts of Dhaka and Khulna.

RAB Director General Chowdhury Abdullah Al Mamun said on Tuesday that the RAB had arrested about 1,500 militants after the attack on the Holy Artisan. Now the militants are in a very weak position. Whenever they are trying to be active somewhere, they are being arrested on the basis of advance information.