Police have arrested UK citizen Samiun Rahman a.k.a. Ibn Hamdan, who arrived in Bangladesh in February to recruit fighters from Bangladesh and Myanmar for the Islamic State and for the Al Nusrah Front. Hamdan had fought in Syria in late 2013 and had also gone to Mauritania and Morocco. His arrest followed the arrest of two of his recruits. Police said Hamdan “also had a mission to open branches in Bangladesh and Myanmar as per al Qaeda supremo Ayman al Zawahiri’s recent announcement on the launching of al Qaeda in Indian subcontinent.” Five university students who are members of the Islami Chhatra Shibir were suspended for injuring at least 15 teachers by bomb-throwing on Sept. 10. An Islamist bloc threatened a daylong government shutdown if Minister Abdul Latif Siddique is not arrested for making comments in New York that hurt Muslim religious sentiments.
