Some Bangladeshis leave homes to join Taliban

Some Bangladeshis have left their homes to join the Taliban insurgents in their war to seize control of Afghanistan, Dhaka Metropolitan Police Commissioner Shafiqul Islam has said.

The hardline Islamist group has been using digital mediums to recruit fighters to take on the government forces in Afghanistan, the commissioner told reporters on Saturday.

"The world is cyber-reliant now. Using this medium, the militants are carrying out all kinds of activities and recruiting members," he said after visiting the Bangabandhu Memorial Museum in Dhanmondi's Road No. 32 ahead of National Mourning Day.

Some are trying to reach Afghanistan on foot to answer the Taliban's call, while a few have been arrested in India, according to Shafiqul.

As Bangladesh prepares to mourn the killing of its founding father Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Shafiqul warned that Aug 15 is seen as an important date by militants to draw attention to their cause.

"All intelligence agencies in Bangladesh are on the alert [for the threat of militants]. They are conducting strict surveillance. We are also trying our best to prevent any kind of incident.”

"They [militants] may try and attract international attention by detonating a bomb on Aug 15, even if it's 2 km away from the venue. We are working with the utmost dedication and diligence to prevent any unsavoury incident from happening."

As part of the security measures for National Mourning Day, each person who comes to pay homage to Bangabandhu in Dhanmondi 32 will be screened with a hand-held metal detector before entering the area through an archway.

Police will activate checkpoints in the area and conduct block raids while a dog squad and a bomb disposal unit will also be on hand.

Dhanmondi Road No. 32 as well as the Banani Cemetery and its surroundings will be under CCTV surveillance, said Shafiqul.

Taliban insurgents seized Afghanistan's second- and third-biggest cities on Friday, as resistance from government forces crumbled.

A US defence official said there was concern that the Taliban, ousted from power by US-led forces in 2001 after the Sept 11 attacks on the United States, could make a move on Kabul within days.

Washington on Thursday announced plans to send 3,000 additional troops to help evacuate US Embassy staff, and the Pentagon said most of the soldiers would be in Kabul by the end of the weekend. Britain also confirmed the start of a military operation to support the evacuation of its nationals.

Under Taliban rule, women could not work, girls were not allowed to attend school and women had to cover their faces and be accompanied by a male relative if they wanted to venture out of their homes. In early July, Taliban fighters ordered nine women to stop working in a bank.

Of Afghanistan's major cities, the government still holds Mazar-i-Sharif in the north and Jalalabad, near the Pakistani border in the east, in addition to Kabul.