Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) has released a 20-page code of conduct outlining its approach to waging jihad throughout the region. The group says its men are currently fighting “shoulder-to-shoulder” with the Taliban and calls on Muslims in the surrounding countries to pledge allegiance to the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (another name for the Taliban).
Usama Ibrahim was a member of al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent’s top leadership body and the chief of Al Sahab Media, al Qaeda’s official media production arm. Tariq Bhai was AQIS’ “head of Bangladeshi Affairs.”
The tactic of separating Muslims from non-Muslims and then executing the latter, which was pioneered by al Qaeda, has not been used by the Islamic State in the past.
The Islamic State’s Amaq News Agency has claimed responsibility for today’s attack on a cafe in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The claim still needs to be verified, but the jihadist threat inside Bangladesh has steadily grown over the past two years.
The US government and intelligence services have consistently underestimated the strength of AQIS, which is an official branch of al Qaeda that is based in Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh.
AQIS quickly claimed responsibility for the murder of a prominent LGBT activist, Xulhaz Mannan, and his friend in Bangladesh. Mannan worked for USAID and previously worked for the US Embassy for eight years. AQIS has targeted alleged “blasphemers” in Bangladesh as part of a campaign authorized by Ayman al Zawahiri.
Bangladesh Islamist Party Chief Sentenced to Death
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 […]
Clashes erupt in Bangladesh after top Islamist is spared death sentence
Bangladesh executed Abdul Kader Mullah, a senior Jamaat-e-Islami leader who was convicted of war crimes committed during the 1971 war for independence from Pakistan. Four other leading figures in the party have also been convicted, but Mullah is the first to have been executed. Jamaat-e-Islami has warned it will avenge his death, and called for […]
The war crimes tribunal convicted in absentia and sentenced to death two former leaders of the Al-Badr force, a subgroup of the Jamaat-e-Islami that was involved in the kidnapping, torture, and execution of over 200 Bangladeshi intellectuals during the country’s war of independence from Pakistan in 1971. One of the men, Chowdhury Mueen Uddin, a […]
A war crimes tribunal sentenced Salauddin Quader Chowdhury, a top member of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party, to death after convicting him of torture, rape, and genocide during the war with Pakistan in 1971. The defense plans to appeal.
The Supreme Court sentenced Jamaat-e-Islami leader Abdul Kader Mullah to death, rejecting an appeal against the the life sentence handed down in February by a war crimes tribunal. The Jamaat-e-Islami, which was banned in July, has called for a nationwide strike tomorrow.
Four Bangladeshi bloggers who claim to be atheists have been charged with defaming Islam and face prison sentences of up to seven years. About 200 activists from Islami Chhatra Shibir, the student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami, clashed with police in Rajshahi; at least 10 people were injured, including a journalist. Another Shibir protest was foiled in […]
Fresh Myanmar clashes signal growing Muslim desperation
Canada said it would close its embassy in Dhaka on Sunday, Aug. 4, as a security precaution. Local Government and Rural Development Minister Syed Ashraful Islam said that even though the high court has ruled that the registration of the Jamaat-e-Islami party was illegal, the government has no plans to ban the party, and the […]
The high court in Dhaka ruled that the Jamaat-e-Islami party is illegal because it is against secularism. The decision, which the JI plans to appeal, would prevent the Islamist party from slating candidates in the general election early next year.
The country’s war crimes tribunal sentenced Jamaat-e-Islami politician Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid to death. Mujahid led a militia responsible for the deaths of intellectuals and other leaders who supported the country’s independence from Pakistan; as many as 3 million people are said to have died during the nine-month war of secession. At least two people […]
The country’s war crimes tribunal sentenced 91-year-old Ghulam Azam, former head of the Jaamat-e-Islami, to life in prison for genocide and crimes against humanity during the 1971 war for independence from Pakistan. In its ruling, the court called Jaamat a “criminal organization” and suggested that “no such anti-liberation people should be allowed to sit at […]
A court sentenced 10 members of the banned Islamist group Jamayetul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) to death for assisting with a suicide bombing at a lawyers’ association office in Gazipur in 2005 that killed nine people and injured at least 100 more. JMB founder Sheikh Abdur Rahman and five other leaders of the group were hanged […]
Behind the rise of Bangladesh’s Hifazat
The death toll from clashes between rioting Islamist protesters and police around Dhaka has risen to 45, including five policemen. Hundreds of people have been injured during the protests, which began several days ago but are now said to have largely subsided. Security has been beefed up in the capital and around major mosques across […]
As many as 200,000 Islamist protesters blocked roads into the capital of Dhaka, demanding the adoption of a blasphemy law. Clashes between police and rioting protesters killed at least three people and injured 60 more. The protest was organized by the newly-formed radical group Hifazat-e-Islam, which wants the death penalty for anyone who defames Islam. […]
The country’s war crimes tribunal indicted British Muslim leader Chowdhury Mueen-Uddin for crimes against humanity and genocide during the 1971 war with Pakistan. He is alleged to have helped organize the killing of the top intellectuals in Bangladesh. He is an influential figure in British Muslim circles and helped set up the Muslim Council of […]
Islamist agitation fuels unrest in Bangladesh
Hard-Line Muslim Rally Demands Anti-Blasphemy Laws in Bangladesh
Over 100,000 Islamists marched to the capital city of Dhaka demanding the death of several bloggers for allegedly defaming Islam. The rally was organized by the Hefajat-e-Islam, which is calling for the enactment of a blasphemy law. Four bloggers were arrested earlier this week on charges of hurting Islamic religious sentiment, and the government has […]
Police arrested a Jamaat-e-Islami official for inciting recent attacks on Hindus and temples in Chittagong. Court testimony implicated Harakat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami leader Mufti Abdul Hannan in the Bamna Ratamul bombings in 2001 that killed 10 people; five of the 14 suspects in the case remain at large.
Protesters from Jamaat-e-Islami and Islami Chhatra Shibir vandalized a patriotic monument in Rangpur, continuing their violent campaign across the country; over 50 people have been killed since Feb. 28. An intelligence official warned of Islamist terror threats in Dhaka. The opposition BNP party, a Jamaat ally, plans to set up countrywide “committees for public safety” […]
Bangladesh deaths rise as Jamaat protest strike begins