Hunt starts for commander involved in Dhaka attack

DHAKA: Investigators are focusing on an offshoot of the banned Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) and a student for his alleged commanding role in the terror

DHAKA: Investigators are focusing on an offshoot of the banned Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) and a student for his alleged commanding role in the terror strike in a Dhaka cafe.

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The government held JMB’s new front, ‘New JMB’ led by Tamim Chowdhury, responsible for the attack.

Police said they had identified three masterminds - Chowdhury, Nurul Islam Marzan and Ziaul Haq, a sacked army major. Hasnat Karim, a Bangladeshi-origin British citizen who was inside the cafe during the attack, has also been arrested.

While the initial focus was on Chowdhury, a Bangladeshi-origin Canadian, investigators are now zooming in on Marzan, a student of Arabic at Chittagong University who hails from northern Pabna district. He allegedly led the attack as “an operation commander” and coordinated with Chowdhury.

Monirul Islam, a top counterterrorism official, said authorities had established that, apart from the three alleged masterminds, seven to eight others were involved in the attack. “But we have not been able to identify them yet,” he said.

Detectives have detained Marzan’s father Nazimuddin Nizam for questioning.

FOUR WOMEN ARRESTED

Bangladesh’s elite Rapid Action Battalion arrested four women for alleged involvement with the JMB. They were produced before media on Tuesday.

Lutful Kabir, a commanding officer of RAB, said they were arrested in separate raids in Dhaka and neighbouring Gazipur. He said one of the women, Aklima Rahman, was the adviser of the group.