Internal conflict in Bangladesh

Internal conflict in Bangladesh
Date 14 April 2001 (2001-04-14) – present (15 years, 7 months, 4 weeks and 1 day) Location Bangladesh Status Ongoing
Belligerents
Bangladesh Rapid Action Battalion (2004–present) Bangladesh Police	Islamists: Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh Jadid al Qaeda Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh Islami Chhatra Shibir Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent Ansarullah Bangla Team  Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (from 2015)[1][2][3][4][5]	Communists: Purba Banglar Sarbahara Party Purbo Banglar Communist Party Janojuddah Shadhin Janmobhumi
Commanders and leaders
Abdul Hamid (President of Bangladesh) Sheikh Hasina (Prime Minister of Bangladesh) A.K.M. Shahidul Hoque (Inspector General of Police) Mukhlesur Rahman (Deputy Inspector General)	Bangla Bhai  Shaykh Abdur Rahman  Abdullah al-Tasnim (POW) Abdun Nu (POW)	Abdur Rouf
Casualties and losses
40+ (since February 2013)[6] 1,333 killed in total[7][8]

Bangladesh has experienced significant terrorism conducted by a number of radical local Islamist and communist organizations.^[7][8] Islamic extremist militant organizations have risen to prominence through assassinations, hostage takings and bomb blasts. Both ISIL and Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent have claimed to be active in the country, although the Bangladeshi government believes that they mainly operate through local affiliates.

Terrorist groups

The first Bangladeshi Islamist militant factions emerged in 1989, when a network of 30 different factions was established and expanded in the following years. The main goal of most Islamist groups in Bangladesh is to create a separate Islamic state, or to govern Bangladesh according to Sharia law. Islamist groups have conducted terrorist attacks against both the government and leftist insurgents.^[9]

The left-wing groups Shadhin Janmobhumi and Janojuddah are known to operate in the south of the country.^[9]

Timeline

2001

On 14 April 2001, 10 people were killed in a series of bombings perpetrated by Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami.^[10]

On 16 June 2001, a rally of Bangladesh Awami League in bombed in Narayanganj.^[11]

2002

On 6 December 2002, 27 people were killed in coordinated bombing of cinema halls in Mymensingh.^[11]

2004

On 21 August 2004, HUJI militants perpetrated a grenade attack on an Awami League rally in Dhaka, resulting in 24 deaths and over 300 injuries.^[12]

2005

On 17 August 2005, a total of 500 bombs exploded in 300 location covering most of the territory of Bangladesh, 2 people were killed and 50 wounded in the incident. Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh later claimed responsibility for the bombings.^[13]

2014

On 17 September 2014, a rapid action battalion dismantled an insurgent weapon and explosive storage facility, located in the Satchhari forest, Chunarughat Upazila, Habiganj. 112 rocket launchers and 14 sacks of explosive material were confiscated during the operation.^[14]

On 18 September 2014, police arrested 7 JMB insurgents, including a top commander Abdullah Al Tasnim, in the Landing Station Port area. The militants intended to utilize 10 kilogrammes of liquid explosives, in a number of terrorist acts through the country, in order to establish cooperation with the ISIL.^[15]

On 1 November 2014, a rapid action battalion operation led to the capture of Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh's main coordinator Abdun Nur as well as four other militants, IED components were also seized.^[16]

2015

On 18 February 2015, two Jamaat-e-Islami rebels were killed in a shootout with policemen, in the Manirampur upazila of Jessore.^[17]

On 23 February 2015, security forces raided an Islamist training camp, located inside a livestock farm in Banshkhali, Chittagong. A variety of firearms, ammunition, propaganda materials and training manuals were seized, 5 people were also detained in connection with the incident.^[18]

On 8 March 2015, authorities uncovered a cache containing 130 bombs, as well as firearms and ammunition, in the Nunachhara hill of Sitakunda upazila, Chittagong. Three Shibir militants were also detained in connection with the incident. On the same day, a bomb was defused in the Natore Sadal town.^[19]

2016

On 15 March 2016, ISIL claimed responsibility for murdering a Muslim Shiite preacher in Bangladesh.^[20]

On 22 March 2016, unidentified attackers hacked a Christian convert to death in northern Bangladesh, amid growing attacks on religious minorities.^[21] A day after, ISIL claimed responsibility for the attack.^[22]

On 7 April 2016, a secular blogger was hacked to death by Islamists, claiming to be part of al-Qaeda.^[23][24]

On 23 April 2016, a university professor was hacked to death on his way to work in northern Bangladesh. ISIL claimed responsibility for the attack.^[25][26]

On 25 April 2016, al-Qaeda terrorists hacked a gay activist and his friend to death in his home.^[27][28]

On 30 April 2016, a Hindu tailor was hacked to death in his store. ISIL claimed responsibility for the attack.^[29] On the next day, Bangladesh authorities arrested three ISIL suspects for the murder.^[30]

On 8 May 2016, a local Sufi cleric was hacked to death by suspected Islamists in Rajshahi.^[31]

On 14 May 2016, police in Bangladesh said, a 75-year-old Buddhist monk was hacked to death in the southeastern Bandarban district.^[32]

On 21 May 2016, a homeopathic doctor was hacked to death in Bangladesh. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant claimed responsibility for the attack.^[33]

On 25 May 2016, an elderly Hindu trader was stabbed to death, in another series of killings, claimed by ISIL.^[34]

On 5 June 2016, a woman was shot, stabbed and killed by three men in front of her son. The woman was the wife of a prominent policeman, that is heading an investigation into the strings of killings, committed by Islamic extremists.^[35]

On 5 June 2016, a 65-year-old Christian was murdered by Islamic State militants.^[36]

On 7 June 2016, the body of Ananda Gopal Ganguly, a Hindu priest, was found in a field near his temple in western Jhenaidah district. His head had been nearly severed from his neck. Separately, police had killed three suspected Islamists, in a crackdown on extremists, blamed for the murders.^[37]

On 10 June 2016, Nityaranjan Pande, a worker at a Hindu monastery in Bangladesh, was hacked to death by several people near the monastery. No immediate claim of responsibility was made, but Islamists are suspected.^[38]

On 27 June 2016, a Hindu ayurvedic practitioner was hacked to death in Chittagong.^[39]

On 1 July 2016, militants hacked a Buddhist farmer to death in Bandarban district. Mong Shwe Lung Marma, 55, was also vice president of the Bangladesh Awami League. Islamic State fighters claimed responsibility for the murder.^[40]

On 1 July 2016, a Hindu temple worker was hacked to death by three suspected Islamic militants on a motorcycle in southwestern Jhenaidah district.^[6]

On 1 July 2016, five attackers opened fire on the Holey Artisan Bakery in the Gulshan neighbourhood and also on the diplomatic area of Dhaka. Around 22 civilians and 2 police officers were killed. 5 attackers were killed by the commando units of Bangladesh Armed Forces.^[41][42]

On 27 July 2016, a raid was carried out on a building suspected of being the base of Islamic militants, resulting in the deaths of nine of the suspected militants and the wounding of one of them.^[43]

On 8 October 2016, a raid by the security forces on a suspected Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh base in Gazipur left 12 militants dead.^[44]

See also

• Chittagong Hill Tracts conflict
• Naxalite–Maoist insurgency
• Attacks by Islamic extremists in Bangladesh

References