Militancy undergoes makeover

Over the past decade, Islamic militancy in Bangladesh has gone through some major changes.

Although terrorists are still killing innocent people in the name of religion, their modus operandi has changed as well-off and university educated youths carry the torch of violence now instead of poverty-stricken madrasa students.

In contrast, prior to 2014, Islamic militants mostly recruited students who were less educated and came from more radical madrasas.

Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) chief Monirul Islam said, "The threat now is the rising radicalisation among the youth. We have to fight against the ideology of the militants. And we must work to deradicalise the involved youths." 

According to a research conducted jointly by the CTTC and the Department of Criminology at Dhaka University, militant outfits now prioritise recruiting educated youths.

In recent years, 47 percent of militants have been university graduates, while only 12 percent are from madrasa backgrounds. Only 3 percent of recruits are uneducated.

The research also found that militants are mostly aged between 18 and 30.

Furthermore, terrorists now use the internet as the main medium for communication. Encrypted apps, the deep web and social media have all become tools for the modern terrorists. 

The targets have also changed, with the focus shifting from random attacks to murdering selective enemies – foreigners, secularists, atheist bloggers, and most recently, law enforcement officials.

CTTC acting deputy commissioner Md Saiful Islam said in the last decade militant outfits changed their attack pattern and targets.

"The ABT targeted the atheist bloggers and the Neo-JMB now targets the law enforcement agencies," he added.

According to the CTTC, the Neo-JMB members are planning and carrying out attacks as lone wolf or wolf packs. "They are permitted to attack alone or with three or four members," the additional deputy commissioner added.

He also said the Neo-JMB members were instructed to develop their explosives on their own.

"They have got all the manuals and explosive-making guidelines using encrypted apps like Telegram. And they do not need to meet others – all communication can be carried out online."

Unlike the terrorists of the past, militant groups now have strong networks – both within the country and with terrorist groups abroad. Many outfits now follow common or similar ideologies and have training on using high-tech equipment and funding.

Top among the outfits are the Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT) and the neo Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (Neo-JMB). 

The ABT began to attract new recruits in 2012 when it became prominent online.

The ABT also reflects a new generation of "Islamic Jihadists" in Bangladesh which uses the cyberspace extensively in propagating jihadist ideology and training manuals to guide terror attacks.

The group was thrust into the limelight in March 2013 after the arrest of five university students in connection with the killing of blogger and activist Rajib Haider – a self-proclaimed atheist who had been hacked to death in February that year.

The five students, according to the police, confessed to the murder and creating this new organisation. The group's leader Rahmani was arrested with 30 followers in August.

Members of the group are largely drawn from the middle and upper-class educated youths.

The year 2013 also marked a new wave of attacks by Islamic extremists in Bangladesh with new targets: secularist and atheist writers, bloggers, and publishers in Bangladesh; foreigners; homosexuals; and religious minorities such as Hindus, Buddhists, Christians and Shia Muslims.

Although there were occasional attacks on secularists prior to the 2013 Shahbagh protests, the frequency of attacks has increased since. The Reporters Without Borders noted that in 2014, a group calling itself Defenders of Islam published a "hit list" of 84 Bangladeshis, mostly secularists, of whom nine had already been killed and others attacked.

Till 2016 terrorists killed a total of 48 people, including 20 foreign nationals.

Responsibility for many of the attacks has been claimed by the ABT, a group that, according to police, has links with both the youth wing of Jamaat-e-Islami and al-Qaeda. 

According to law enforcement, the ABT had a strong hold and operated from 2009 to 2014.

Then the Neo-JMB came to the scene with new tactics and forms of attack and operation in 2014. The then Junud Al Towhid Al Khalifa chief Tamim Chowdhury and JMB chief Sarwar Jahan Manik decided to form Neo-JMB.

Between 2013 and 2015, terrorists were involved in robberies and muggings to raise funds. Their weapons of choice changed from improvised explosive devices to machetes, knives and firearms.

During those years, police linked the JMB to a Savar bank robbery and the attack on the police check post there, the bombings at Husseini Dalan on a Shia gathering and breaking out other JMB prisoners at Trishal, Mymensingh.

Although alarm bells rang about a resurgent JMB after its activists managed to kill policemen and whisk away three JMB leaders from a prison van at Trishal in 2014, the Neo-JMB did not come into prominence until July 1, 2016.

The Holey Artisan attack, which resulted in the murder of 22 people, finally got intelligence agencies to admit to the rise of a "neo-JMB", led by Canadian-Bangladeshi Tamim Chowdhury. 

During the attack, five gunmen entered the Holey Artisan Bakery in Gulshan area of Dhaka. During a 12-hour siege, 20 hostages and two police officers were killed. Most of the victims were foreigners. 

The majority of victims were Italians and Japanese: nine and seven casualties respectively. The foreigners were brutally murdered with sharp swords and knives. This incident was a wake-up call for the government to strengthen security in order to thwart Islamic fundamentalist groups.

The gunmen were young who had grown up in well-off families. Most were educated in English-speaking schools and led liberal lives. They targeted non-Muslims and tortured and killed those who were unable to recite the Qur'an.

Rahmatullah Chowdhury, additional deputy commissioner of police, said the Neo-JMB members upgraded explosives and weapons by harnessing the latest technology.

"We have found improvised explosive devices with remote control circuits and motion sensors, in the last year," he added.

The change in Bangladeshi Islamist militant tactics owes itself to changes in the global situation, according to former police chief Nurul Huda.

"Intelligence holds the key to taming the present phase of Islamist militancy. It is good that a counter-terrorism unit has been created," Huda told The Business Standard.