From 2001 to 2006, at least 54 extremist organizations and foreign militant-fundamentalist organizations under the cover of Islamic NGOs and with the support of the BNP-Jamaat government created a nationwide terrorist network. At that time, under the orders of MPs and ministers and with the cooperation of the police and RAB, they carried out all kinds of terrible operations across the country, killing hundreds of people linked to the Awami League, leftist organizations and anti-Jamaat activists. Although the government initially did not acknowledge the existence of the militants, it was later forced to ban some groups.

Former Jamaat leader and Ahle Hadith follower Shaykh Abdur Rahman formed his Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) in April 1998. Born in 1959, Abdur Rahman’s father Abdullah Ibne Fazal was a member of the Al-Badr force during the Liberation War and is better known as an Ahle Hadith leader. Abdur Rahman studied at a madrasa and later received a higher degree from the Islamic University of Madinah, where he was an influential leader of Jamaat-e-Islami. While in Saudi Arabia, he maintained contact with the Egypt-based Muslim Brotherhood (Ikhwanul Muslimeen).

After leaving Jamaat and before founding JMB, he worked with Harkat-ul Jihad al-Islami (HuJI-B), Ahle Hadith, and Lashkar-e-Taiba from 1995 to 1998 to recruit members.

The members of the first Shura Committee of JMB were Khaled Saifullah, Hafez Mahmud, Salahuddin, Nasrullah, Shahed bin Hafez, and Rana. The JMB divided Bangladesh into six administrative divisions, with separate units for da’wat, i’dad (training), and qital (armed warfare). After that, since 2000, cadres were trained at the Rohingya Solidarity Organization (RSO) camps in Naikhongchhari, Bandarban.

In 2004, Abdur Rahman’s follower and former Islami Chhatra Shibir leader Siddiqul Islam Bangla Bhai founded Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh (JMJB) and carried out armed operations in Rajshahi and Natore areas to eliminate the members of anti-Jamaat parties and individuals alongside committing robberies to raise funds. Initially, the BNP-Jamaat government denied their existence and activities, but on February 23, 2005, JMB and JMJB were banned. On October 17, the government banned HuJI-B.

Then, on August 17, 2005, the JMB carried out a series of bomb attacks in 63 districts, demanding the establishment of Sharia law in the country. Pressed by the international community and local media, Abdur Rahman was arrested on March 2, 2006, and hanged in a case on March 30 the following year when the army-backed caretaker government was in power.

After that, there was a long gap in open militant activities. The next Ameer of JMB, Maulana Saidur Rahman of Jamaat-e-Islami, along with his wife and three others, were arrested in Narayanganj on May 25, 2010.

How JMB came into public sphere

On May 30, 2002, the existence of JMB came to light when eight militants were caught by the police in Parbatipur, Dinajpur, along with 25 bombs and jihadi books. The then BNP-Jamaat coalition government was unable to hold a trial because documents had disappeared from the police station.

On February 13, 2003, three people were injured in seven bomb blasts in Dinajpur city. At that time, they identified themselves as JMJB operatives.

In 2005, JMB militants carried out bomb attacks on courts in Chittagong, Chandpur, Laxmipur and Gazipur. Many civilians, including judges and police, were killed in these incidents.

At the same time, HuJI-B militants were carrying out grenade operations across the country while the members of Hizb ut-Tahrir worked to attract teenagers and young men to militancy through da’wa activities.

After the Awami League government came to power in 2009, it banned Hizb ut-Tahrir because they were inciting the army to change the balance of power. In addition, they are working as coordinators to provide communication, planning and technical assistance to other domestic and foreign militant groups.

Mufti Hannan’s HuJI-B, AQIS, which was behind the series of murders of secularists and anti-Jamaat activists, and the Islamic State, responsible for the 2016 attack on the Holey Artisan restaurant in Gulshan, consider JMB founder Shaykh Abdur Rahman to be the founder of jihad in Bangladesh.

JMB’s admission of operations

A message sent to various media outlets by the JMB in 2016 gives an idea of ​​the organization’s targets, types of operations and capabilities. The statement was first published on a Facebook page on June 27 and later found in a jihadi discussion platform named “Dawahilallah”.

The JMB said, from 2000 to 2016, they took part in about 1,100 jihadi operations across the country. Some of these were suicide attacks. At least 71 people were killed, and thousands were injured in these attacks. Their targets were Shia and Ahmadiyya followers and their mosques, Hindu priests, Christians, police, courts, NGO offices, cinema halls, Jatra events, and Sufi shrines. However, law enforcement agencies claim that at least 64 people were killed in JMB operations between 2000 and 2005.

The Islamic State (ISIS), which began operations in 2015, had similar targets. This group was formed by former members of JMB, HuJI-B, Hizb ut-Tahrir, Ahle Hadith and al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS).

It is worth noting that after the hanging of Shaykh Abdur Rahman and the arrest of Mufti Hannan, the JMB split into two groups—one joining the AQIS and the other joining ISIS. Members of HuJI-B merged with them.

Many of the trained members of the ISIS went to fight in Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq after receiving jihadi training.

The followers of ISIS claimed responsibility for 29 attacks, including the Holey Artisan Bakery massacre, in two years. At least 55 people, including foreigners and priests of the ISKCON temple, were killed in these attacks. In addition, at least 15 other similar murders and attacks with bombs and sharp weapons were carried out during that time, including the Sholakia Eidgah ground, a shrine and several ISKCON temples and followers.

When the trial of top war criminals was nearing the end, the Pakistan-based AQIS claimed responsibility for 11 deaths in 13 attacks targeting activists and supporters of the Shahbagh Ganajagaran Mancha, which was formed to demand the maximum punishment for war criminals, and secular writers and publishers from 2013 to April 25, 2016. In addition, militants of the same ideology killed seven more people between 2013 and 2015.

After the 2018 elections, all the militant groups united and pledged to wage armed jihad in Bangladesh, India’s Seven Sisters, and Myanmar’s Rakhine State through the Shaheed Hamza Brigade and Jama’atul Ansar Fil Hindal Sharqiya.

List of old JMB attacks

# In April 1998, the JMB Shura Committee was formed under the leadership of Shaykh Abdur Rahman. The other members were Khaled Saifullah, Hafez Mahmud, Salahuddin alias Salehin alias Sajeeb, Nasrullah, Shahed Bin Hafiz and Rana.

# In 2000-05, operations were carried out on more than 100 NGO offices which they termed anti-Islamic.

# To raise funds, JMB members robbed at least 12 NGOs, including BRAC and Grameen Bank, in Bogra, Natore, Chapainawabganj, Rajshahi, Dinajpur, Thakurgaon, Sirajganj, Tangail and Narayanganj in 2002-05.

# In 2003-05, JMB carried out bomb explosions and sound blasts in more than 50 jatra and circus pavilions across the country.

# In 2000, JMB cadres were trained at the Rohingya Solidarity Organization (RSO) camp in Naikhongchhari, Bandarban.

# In early 2000, locals arrested 10-12 JMB members with petrol bombs in Parbatipur, Dinajpur. Ehsaar member Shahabul was leading this group.

# In mid-2001, a bomb planted by them exploded in a hotel in Rangamati, killing Nasrullah and injuring Ehsaar member Shamim Hossain Ghalib.

# In 2001, another training workshop on bomb making was held in Tangail.

# In 2001, the JMB Shura Committee was newly formed. Shahed bin Hafiz and Rana left JMB. At that time, Abdur Rahman’s brother Ataur Rahman Sunny and nephew Abdul Awal, Asaduzzaman Hazari and Siddiqul Islam alias Bangla Bhai were appointed as Shura members.

# On September 29, 2001, Shibir terrorists entered the teachers’ residential area in Paschimpara of Rajshahi University and tried to slaughter Sanatkumar Saha, a senior professor of the economics department. Although a case was filed with Motihar Police Station in this incident, the police were unable to arrest any terrorists.

# On October 1, 2001, Abdur Rahman, Bangla Bhai, Hafiz Mahmud, district branch chief Liton and Ehsaar members Ikhtiyar, Sharif and Abdul Matin attacked the house of Bagerhat Union Parishad Chairman and Hindu-Buddhist-Christian Oikyo Parishad leader Tarapad Poddar with the intention of killing him. At one stage, the locals captured five people including Bangla Bhai. After five months, all of them were released on bail from prison.

# On September 28, 2002, a JMB group exploded a time bomb at a circus event held at Roxy Cinema Hall in Satkhira and the neighboring Gurpukur Par area. Two people died and about 200 people were injured. JMB Ehsaar members Zahidul Islam Sumon and Mizan and district branch chief Saifullah participated in the attack.

# In 2002, JMB member Badal was killed while making bombs in his hideout in the Chhota Gurgula area of ​​Dinajpur. Shura member Khaled Saifullah was arrested in this incident but was released on bail in July 2005.

# On December 7 of the same year, at least 19 people were killed and more than a hundred injured in a powerful bomb blast at four cinema halls in Mymensingh city. Shura member Salahuddin led the attack.

# On January 17, 2003, JMB bombed a fair at the shrine of Faila Pir in Shafipur, Tangail. At least 7 people were killed and more than a hundred were injured. The operation, led by Shura member Ataur Rahman Sunny, included bomb makers Shakil and Molla Omar and Ehsaar members Shahid and Maruf, and five others.

# Three days later, on January 20, JMB members slaughtered five followers of Chishtia Pir in Begungram, Kala Upazila of Joypurhat and looted the shrine’s goods and money. Bangla Bhai led the attack. Shahid, Shahidullah, Mamun, Habil and some people from the area were his associates.

# On February 5, 2003, JMB members attacked a police patrol team in Itagachha, Satkhira. In this attack, two policemen were killed and another was injured.

# On April 24, JMB slaughtered and killed a Christian youth named Hridoy Roy in Sanakoir area of ​​Sarishabari, Jamalpur district. A team of 6-7 members led by Salahuddin took part in this operation.

# On August 14, when the police raided a JMB training camp in the Khetlal area of ​​Joypurhat, the militants looted two arms and one wireless set from the police. That night, the police arrested 21 JMB members including Ataur Rahman Sunny, Abdul Awal and Salahuddin, but they were released on bail within five months.

# On February 27, 2004, Dhaka University teacher and secularist writer Humayun Azad was hacked to death with a machete on the sidewalk near TSC on his way back from the Amar Ekushey Book Fair. He later died on August 12 while undergoing treatment in Germany. JMB Shura member Ataur Rahman Sunny and Ehsaar members Minhaj, Shamim, Shahid, Minar and Saifullah Saad took part in this attack.

# In 2004, a JMB group slaughtered and killed Moniruzzaman, a poet and homeopath from Delduar area of ​​Tangail. He had written a book about how Islam encourages and supports the oppression of women, which was called “Nari Tumi Manush Hole Kobe?” Shura members Hafiz Mahmud, Ataur Rahman Sunny, Minhaj Shaon, Shahid and Shamim participated in the operation. In 2006, Comilla district unit JMB commander Minhaj Shaon, who was arrested on charges of involvement in the attack on Humayun Azad, confessed to killing the writer Moniruzzaman during police interrogation.

# In April-May 2004, JMJB set up three camps under Bangla Bhai in Baghmara of Rajshahi and Rani Nagar and Atrai upazilas of Natore. Among them, Bangla Bhai was in charge of Hamirkutsa camp, Abdul Awal of Gurbaria camp and Hafez Mahmud of Banshbaria camp. At that time, dozens of Awami League and leftist leaders and activists were shot and killed in at least 350 attacks. In addition, at least hundreds of people were tortured in various ways. At that time, the RAB, police, local administration and BNP-Jamaat leaders fully supported the leaders and members of JMJB.

# In April, Shura member Abdul Awal slit the throat of East Bengal Communist Party member Shahid in Adamdighi, Bogra. He was assisted by Bangla Bhai and Hafez Mahmud.

# At the same time, Shaykh Abdur Rahman slaughtered two Hindus in Naogaon while Abdul Awal slaughtered another.

# On September 18, 2004, Salahuddin, Hafez Mahmud, Shahid and Belal slaughtered and killed Christian Association leader Abdul Gani alias Gani Gomez in Hajipur Bazar, Jamalpur.

# The same year, JMB’s Ataur Rahman Sunny had planned to attack Enayetullah Khan Masud, editor of the Daily Janakantha, at the end of the same year. But later, JMB did not carry out the operation.

# On December 24, JMB members slaughtered and killed Professor Yunus Ali, a teacher at Rajshahi University.

# On February 14, 2005, JMB exploded a sound bomb at a Valentine’s Day concert in Dhaka.

# On February 23, JMB and JMJB were banned after the media published reports on their armed attacks.

# In March, JMB planned to attack members of the US Peace Corps stationed in Gazipur. But the operation was canceled when the foreigners left the location.

# In May 2005, Akhtar, a member of the JMB suicide squad, threw a bomb at a judge of the Sylhet Speedy Trial Tribunal. However, no one was injured as the bomb did not explode.

# In the August 17 series of bomb attacks in 63 districts, at least two people were killed and over a hundred were injured.

# On October 3, suicide bombings at the courts in Chittagong, Laxmipur and Chandpur district killed one person and injured many others.

# On November 14, a suicide bomb attack by a JMB member killed Jhalakathi court judges Sohel Ahmed Chowdhury and Jagannath Pare.

# Then on November 29, a suicide bomb attack at the Gazipur District Bar Association office killed four lawyers and four service seekers. On the same day, a suicide bomb attack at the Chittagong court left one person dead and many injured.

# On December 1, a suicide bomb attack at the Gazipur District Administration office killed one person and injured at least 35.

# On December 8, a suicide bomb attack at the Udichi and Shatadal offices in Netrokona killed at least eight people.

# On March 2, 2005, JMB founder Shaykh Abdur Rahman was arrested and Bangla Bhai on March 6.

# Then, from October 2006 to February 2007, JMB launched grenade attacks on patrol police in the Tongi, Uttara, Gulshan and Gabtoli areas of Dhaka.

# On March 30, 2007, Abdur Rahman, Bangla Bhai, Ataur Rahman Sunny, Abdul Awal, Khaled Saifullah and suicide bomber Iftekhar Hasan Mamun were hanged in the Jhalakathi judge murder case.

# In retaliation, JMB members shot dead Haider Hossain, the public prosecutor of the Jhalakathi court, on April 11.

# In May 2009, JMB members launched a grenade attack on a police patrol vehicle in Uttara, Dhaka.

# On May 25, 2010, the police arrested JMB Ameer Maulana Saidur Rahman and his third wife Naima Akhtar, along with the military wing coordinator Amir Hossain alias Sharif, and Ehsaar members Nur Hossain Sabuj and Abdullahel Kafi. Saidur Rahman was the Ameer of Habiganj district Jamaat when he became the JMB chief. His son-in-law of was JMB’s Shura member Ataur Rahman Sunny. Saidur’s sons AHM Shamim and Bashar Mahfuz also held important positions in the JMB.

# After the AQIS operation began in 2013, the main branch of JMB became active again and formed separate brigades for operations. On December 21, Pir Lutfar Rahman Faruk, his eldest son Sarwar Islam Faruk and four followers were killed by the JMB Imam Ibn Taymiyya Brigade in Gopibagh, Dhaka.

# On February 23, 2014, three JMB leaders, including Salahuddin, were snatched by members of the Sheikh Nasrullah Brigade from a prison van. A policeman was killed in the incident near Trishal, Mymensingh. One of the JMB members arrested over the incident was seen accompanying Chief Adviser Prof Muhammad Yunus while he visited the army’s detention centres in February this year.

# On August 27, Nurul Islam Farooqui, a popular Islamic orator linked to the Ahle Sunnat Jamaat and Imam of the Supreme Court Mosque, was killed in his house by the Ataur Rahman Sunny Brigade.

# On October 5, 2015, the Hafez Mahmud Brigade killed Pir Khizir Khan in Dhaka’s Madhya Badda.

# On April 25, 2016, members of Khaled Saifullah Brigade shot and killed Kashimpur Prison Sergeant Instructor and self-proclaimed Pir Rustam Howlader.

# On May 7, JMB’s Abdul Awal Brigade slaughtered Pir Shahidullah, a grocery shopkeeper in Paba area of ​​Rajshahi.

# On June 11, 2018, JMB admitted to killing Shahjahan Bachchu, publisher of Bishakha Prokashoni and communist leader, in Sirajdikhan, Munshiganj. Police said Abdur Rahman alias Lalu alias Sayed alias Akkas alias Kawsar, the military wing commander of JMB’s Dhaka divisional unit, was the one who shot and killed the writer. He was killed in a gunfight with the police on June 28.