Dhaka – Today is the 1st of July exactly one year since the militant attack on the Holey Artisan Bakery in the capital in the evening when guests many of them foreigners were having thei dinner. It was a wake-up call to combat militancy in the country as sophisticated arms were used against innocent people in the guise of religious fundamentalism.After this attack people witnessed a number of anti-terror raids at the hideouts scattered across the country where suspected terrors either got killed or blew themselves up even after announcement of surrender before launching operations.
Still the law enforcers are mainly combating against militants but experts said it also requires social movement and campaign programme so that the young people and women are not derailed to this path of destruction.
After the café attack, law enforcers raided several dens in the capital and its adjacent areas but recently they also launched operations in different hideouts in the district towns outside the capital.
During the operations of the enforcers, trends were seen that women and children were among the slain militants.
Experts said Gulshan attack in 1 July 2016 greatly shocked the country when five militants equipped with sophisticated arms and ammunitions barged into the café and killed 20 people including local and foreign nationals.
This attack disillusioned the traditional concept of religious fundamentalism in the country as it was a general belief that people of Madrasa background were mainly found involved in such attacks, they said.
But here the attackers at the café in the diplomatic zone were from the affluent class with university background having allegedly linkage with international terror network like Islamic States (IS).
Even soon after the attack at the café, the IS took the responsibility without any delay but the country’ law enforces and the government said there was no presence of IS in this land.
Police sources said still five militants who are involved behind the attack of Holey Artisan are missing. And the counter terrorism unit has identified three out of five as most dangerous.
Soon after the café attack, law enforcers became highly alert to redress militancy in the country and are carrying out anti-terror operations to ferret out the hideouts of the militants.
At least 31 militants including five in Holey Artisan, nine Kalyanpur in the capital, one in Kishoreganj, three in Narayanganj, one in Rupganj, one in Ashulia, seven in Gazipur, two in Tangail and two in Ashkona in the capital had been killed last year.
This year four militants killed at Atia Mahal in Sylhet while five of a family blew themselves in Godagari upazila in Rajshahi district while police raided their home and law enforcers also busted two militant houses in Moulvibazar and Comilla in suspicion of militants’ presence there.
During the law enforcers operations at the hideouts, it was seen that woman in suicide vest blew up in fear of being caught as it happened in Ashkona operation in December last year when a teenage boy also got killed in the operation codenamed ‘Ripple 24’.
On July 7 last year police thwarted a militant attack by a group of suspected Islamic extremists equipped with guns, homemade bombs and machetes when the law enforcers were frisking people before the Eid congregation in Sholakia Kishoreganj.
The attack left two policemen, a woman and a suspected assailant killed. After the Gulshan attack it was a big challenge for the law enforcers to resist the militant attacks.
Soon after the café and Sholakia attacks, the government took various initiatives because the café attackers were from the affluent classes and well-educated from the country’s noted private university.
Home minister, education minister and other stakeholders took initiatives holding meetings with the authorities of the educational institutions to be alert so that no student can join in militancy.
On July 26, the law enforcers carried out a raid codenamed ‘Storm 26’ at a house popularly known as ‘Jahaj Building’ the capital’s Kalyanpur area when nine militants were killed and one was arrested.
All of them believed to be part of the same group that carried out the Artisan attack and were planning for another attack.
On July 27, Gulshan café attack ‘mastermind’ Tamim Ahmed Chowdhury and two other suspected militants had been killed during a gunfight at a militant den in Narayanganj through the operation codenamed ‘Hit Strong 27’.
Later on Sep 2, law enforcers carried out a raid at the Roopnagar area in the capital where Tamim’s second-in- command Zahidul Islam alias Maj Murad was killed.
On 10 Sep, Md Shamsher Uddin alias Abdul Karim alias Tanvir Qadri, who rented safe houses for New JMB operatives in Bashundhara, Kalyanpur and Narayanganj areas, killed himself during a police raid in Azimpur area in the capital.
On Oct 8, seven militants were killed when a joint team of police and RAB carried out a raid at a two-storey house in Patartek in Gazipur. The militants were asked to surrender but the militants traded gunfire ignoring the call of the law enforcers.
In March this year, four militants including a woman were killed in operation twilight at a five-story building ‘Atia Mahal’ in Sylhet. Militant attack killed two policemen and three civilians. Huge arms and ammunitions from the house later.
In May, five of a family blew themselves up when police stormed their house possibly used as a militant hideout in Godagari Upazila in the northern district Rajshahi.
Bomb disposal unit recovered 11 bombs, one pistol, two rounds of bullets and a magazine from the house.
Two suspected militants were killed in a house in Jhenaidah in the latest anti-terror raid on May 7 this year. Police said they found explosives and bomb-making materials there.
Security analyst Brig Gen (retd) M Sakhawat Hossain said that the militants groups are trying to be organized centring Dhaka and its adjacent areas because such groups try to become international news for international reaction.
He also said failure of intelligent report and lack of coordination among law enforcement agencies are the prime reasons behind combating militancy in an effective way.
He said militancy cannot be stopped by launching operations only rather it needs social movement and campaign against militancy.
Another security analyst Ziaur Rahman, professor of criminology department of Dhaka University suggested bringing changes in the curriculum and taking social awareness to combat militancy.
However, the government has taken several initiatives in the educational institutions to keep eyes on the students and teachers so that none can be derailed to the path of militancy. – Staff Repoter
