The government knows where al-Qaeda’s message was transmitted from, Tarique Ahmed Siddique, the Prime Minister’s Adviser for Security Affairs, said yesterday.
“We know where it was transmitted from, but we are yet to know who is responsible for it,” Siddique, a retired Major General, told reporters after attending an annual naval parade at Kutubdia on Monday.“The transmission’s source cannot be revealed for the sake of investigation,” he added.
An audio message with a still photo of al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri has been circulating on the Internet where he calls on Bangladeshi Muslims to wage jihad against the enemies of Islam.
The militant leader is heard accusing the government in Arabic of having killed “thousands of people” during last year’s crackdown on a violent Hifazat-e Islam rally in Dhaka.
The government was in the process of authenticating the audio message which would require a couple of days, said Shahriar Alam, State Minister for Foreign Affairs, on Sunday.
Refusing to disclose the process, the minister said the message, once authenticated, would prove the BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami’s “ties to international militancy.”
The BNP, however, alleged the government was trying to link it to the international terror group to win the US and the West to its side.
A spokesperson for the US State Department said it was aware of the audio message and condemned “Zawahiri’s characterisation of Bangladesh.”
The Jamaat-e-Islami has denied any role in the al-Qaeda’s threat and also expressed alarm over being ‘associated to the audio message’.
The al-Qaeda chief’s tirade, however, appeared to have been provoked by the war crimes trials of top leaders of Jamaat with Abdul Quader Molla already executed.
Hifazat-e Islam, whose rally photos were appended to the audio message, also denied involvement. – bdnews24.com
