Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh
Encyclopedia
Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen was a Islamist organisation operating in Bangladesh
. It was founded in 1998 in Palampur in Dhaka division by Abdur Rahman and gained public prominence in 2001 when bombs and documents detailing the activities of the organization were discovered in Parbatipur in Dinajpur district
. The organization was officially banned by the government of Bangladesh in February 2005 after attacks on NGOs, but struck back in mid-August when it detonated 500 bombs
at 300 locations throughout Bangladesh.
The JMB was believed to have contained at least 100,000 members, and have an extensive network of organizations, including connections to legal Islamist organizations. Six of the top leaders of JMP were captured by the Rapid Action Battalion
security force in 2005. On the evening of 29 March 2007, four were executed by hanging for the killing of two judges and for the August 2005 bombings.
based on Sharia
. It has explicitly stated on more than one occasion that it opposes the political system of Bangladesh and seeks to "build a society based on the Islamic model laid out in Holy Quran-Hadith."
The organization follows the ideals of the Taliban of Afghanistan Its chief has been quoted as stating that "our model includes many leaders and scholars of Islam. But we will take as much (ideology) from the Taliban as we need." It opposes democracy
as being in violation of Shari'a or the Islamic law
.
It also opposes socialism and its avowed objective is to neutralize left-wing extremists, especially cadres of the Purba Banglar Communist Party
(PBCP). JMB also is opposed to cultural functions, cinema halls, shrines and NGOs. In another leaflet it said, "We don't want Taguti [non-Islamic] law, let Qur’anic law be introduced. Law framed by humans cannot continue and only the laws of Allah will prevail."
They have claimed responsibility for several violent attacks and bombings. JMB's communiqués reveal a Salafist doctrine that is common across international radical Islamist organizations. In a leaflet written in Bengali and Arabic found at various bombing sites of 17 August 2005 it stated:
Several captured members of the group have claimed that their targets include traditional Bangladeshi cultural and non-government organizations such as BRAC
, Proshika, and Grameen Bank
. Leader Abdur Rahman is alleged to have taught JMB operatives that "it's not a sin to loot valuables of Grameen Bank
, BRAC
, Proshika, Asa and Karitas' as they encourage women to shed Burqa (veil)
."
. It is believed to have been involved in an explosion of seven bombs on 13 February 2003 at one of its hideouts, having been preparing to explode them in northern Bangladeshi towns during International Mother Language Day
.
On 12 January 2005, bomb blasts at two separate cultural events in Sherpur
and Jamalpur
districts injured 25 and 10 respectively. Bomb blasts on 15 January 2005 at Jatra performances at Bogra
and Natore
killed two and injured over 70 people.
On August 17, 2005, 500 small bombs
at 300 locations in 50 cities and towns across Bangladesh detonated within the space of 30 minutes. Dhaka international airport, government buildings and major hotels were targeted. There were 50 injuries but only two fatalities - a child in Savar, near Dhaka
, and a Rickshaw-puller in Chapai Nawabganj District - because of the small size of the bombs. Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh claimed responsibility for the bombings.
Blasts later in the year were more deadly "killing judges, lawyers, policemen and common people". It killed two judges in Jhalakathi in South Bangladesh on November 14, 2005.
The group has threatened journalists, with more than 55 receiving death threats between September and December 2005.
Following a December 8, 2005 suicide bombing, Reuters reported the group threatened to kill women, including non-Muslims, who did not wear the veil
, according to news reports posted by defenddemocracy.org.
(JMJB), Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami
(HUJI), Hizbut Tawhid, Tawhidi Janata, Islami Jubo Shangha, Islami Shangha, Al Falah A'am Unnayan Shanstha and Shahadat-e al Hiqma are believed to be part of the Al Mujahideen network. Further, the JMB is believed to contain at least 100,000 members, and an alleged 2,000-man suicide brigade.
JMB allegedly received financial assistance from individual donors in Kuwait
, UAE, Bahrain
, Pakistan
, Saudi Arabia
and Libya
. Reports have claimed that, funding of JMB by international NGOs like Kuwait based Society of the Revival of Islamic Heritage (RIHS) and Doulatul Kuwait, Saudi Arabia based Al Haramaine Islamic Institute and Rabita Al Alam Al Islami
, Qatar Charitable Society and UAE-based Al Fuzaira and Khairul Ansar Al Khairia.
Some of the RIHS offices were blacklisted in 2002 by the US State Department because of alleged links with al-Qaeda
. Though, these connections have not been proven. Following the blasts in August, the Bangladeshi government deported five foreign RIHS officials. Al-Haramaine was banned by the US in 2004 and its branches in Albania, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Ethiopia and the Netherlands were added by the UN Security Council to the Al-Qaeda and Taliban Sanctions Committee on 6 July 2004.
South Asian Terrorist Portal (SATP), The Columbia World Dictionary of Islamism and Defenddemocracy.org state that Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh "appears" to be connected with putatively non-violent, legal Islamist group or groups in Bangladesh, Defenddemocracy speculating that Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh is a "proxy" established by the legal Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh party to "push the center of gravity of the political debate toward radical Islamism" and make Jamaat-e-Islami appear more centrist. According to SATP, "many members of the JMB and JMJB have invariably been found to be cadres of the Islami Chhatra Shibir
(ICS), student wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami, a partner in the ruling coalition" with the Bangladesh National Party "under Prime Minister Khaleda Zia
" that came to power in 2001.
, Shaykh Abdur Rahman
. Six of their top men were captured by RAB
security authorities in 2005. On the evening of 29 March 2007, Abdur Rahman, Bangla Bhai, and four other leaders of the organization were executed by hanging for the killing of two judges and for countrywide bombings in 2005.
Bangladesh
Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
. It was founded in 1998 in Palampur in Dhaka division by Abdur Rahman and gained public prominence in 2001 when bombs and documents detailing the activities of the organization were discovered in Parbatipur in Dinajpur district
Dinajpur District, Bangladesh
Dinajpur is a district in Northern Bangladesh. It is a part of the Rangpur Division.- Geography :Dinajpur is bounded by Thakurgaon and Panchagarh districts in the north, Gaibandha and Joypurhat districts in the south, Nilphamari and Rangpurdistricts in the east, and the state of West Bengal, India...
. The organization was officially banned by the government of Bangladesh in February 2005 after attacks on NGOs, but struck back in mid-August when it detonated 500 bombs
17 August 2005 Bangladesh bombings
On 17 August 2005, around 500 bomb explosions occurred at 300 locations in 63 out of the 64 districts of Bangladesh. The bombs were exploded within a half hour period starting from 11:30 am. A terrorist organization, Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh claimed responsibility for the bombings...
at 300 locations throughout Bangladesh.
The JMB was believed to have contained at least 100,000 members, and have an extensive network of organizations, including connections to legal Islamist organizations. Six of the top leaders of JMP were captured by the Rapid Action Battalion
Rapid Action Battalion
Rapid Action Battalion or RAB is an elite anti-crime and anti-terrorism unit of Bangladesh Police constituted amending the Armed Police Battalion Ordinance, 1979. Under the command of Inspector General of Police it consists of members of Bangladesh Police, Bangladesh Army, Bangladesh Navy,...
security force in 2005. On the evening of 29 March 2007, four were executed by hanging for the killing of two judges and for the August 2005 bombings.
Ideology
The JMB's aim is to replace the current state of Bangladesh with an Islamic stateIslamic State
An Islamic state is a type of government, in which the primary basis for government is Islamic religious law...
based on Sharia
Sharia
Sharia law, is the moral code and religious law of Islam. Sharia is derived from two primary sources of Islamic law: the precepts set forth in the Quran, and the example set by the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the Sunnah. Fiqh jurisprudence interprets and extends the application of sharia to...
. It has explicitly stated on more than one occasion that it opposes the political system of Bangladesh and seeks to "build a society based on the Islamic model laid out in Holy Quran-Hadith."
The organization follows the ideals of the Taliban of Afghanistan Its chief has been quoted as stating that "our model includes many leaders and scholars of Islam. But we will take as much (ideology) from the Taliban as we need." It opposes democracy
Democracy
Democracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...
as being in violation of Shari'a or the Islamic law
Sharia
Sharia law, is the moral code and religious law of Islam. Sharia is derived from two primary sources of Islamic law: the precepts set forth in the Quran, and the example set by the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the Sunnah. Fiqh jurisprudence interprets and extends the application of sharia to...
.
It also opposes socialism and its avowed objective is to neutralize left-wing extremists, especially cadres of the Purba Banglar Communist Party
Communist party
A political party described as a Communist party includes those that advocate the application of the social principles of communism through a communist form of government...
(PBCP). JMB also is opposed to cultural functions, cinema halls, shrines and NGOs. In another leaflet it said, "We don't want Taguti [non-Islamic] law, let Qur’anic law be introduced. Law framed by humans cannot continue and only the laws of Allah will prevail."
They have claimed responsibility for several violent attacks and bombings. JMB's communiqués reveal a Salafist doctrine that is common across international radical Islamist organizations. In a leaflet written in Bengali and Arabic found at various bombing sites of 17 August 2005 it stated:
"We are the soldiers of Allah. We have taken up arms for the implementation of Allah's law the way the Prophet, Sahabis and heroic Mujahideen have implemented for centuries. If the government does not establish Islamic law in the country after this [third] warning and, rather, it goes to arrest any Muslim on charge of seeking Allah's laws or it resorts to repression on Alem-Ulema, the Jamaatul Mujahideen [JMB] will go for counteraction, Insha Allah."
Several captured members of the group have claimed that their targets include traditional Bangladeshi cultural and non-government organizations such as BRAC
BRAC (NGO)
BRAC, based in Bangladesh, is the world's largest non-governmental development organization. Established by Sir Fazle Hasan Abed in 1972 soon after the independence of Bangladesh, BRAC is present in all 64 districts of Bangladesh, with over 7 million microfinance group members, 37,500 non-formal...
, Proshika, and Grameen Bank
Grameen Bank
The Grameen Bank is a microfinance organization and community development bank started in Bangladesh that makes small loans to the impoverished without requiring collateral...
. Leader Abdur Rahman is alleged to have taught JMB operatives that "it's not a sin to loot valuables of Grameen Bank
Grameen Bank
The Grameen Bank is a microfinance organization and community development bank started in Bangladesh that makes small loans to the impoverished without requiring collateral...
, BRAC
BRAC (NGO)
BRAC, based in Bangladesh, is the world's largest non-governmental development organization. Established by Sir Fazle Hasan Abed in 1972 soon after the independence of Bangladesh, BRAC is present in all 64 districts of Bangladesh, with over 7 million microfinance group members, 37,500 non-formal...
, Proshika, Asa and Karitas' as they encourage women to shed Burqa (veil)
Hijab
The word "hijab" or "'" refers to both the head covering traditionally worn by Muslim women and modest Muslim styles of dress in general....
."
Activities
On 20 May 2001 25 petrol bombs and documents detailing the activities of the organization were discovered and eight of its members were arrested in Parbatipur in Dinajpur districtDinajpur District, Bangladesh
Dinajpur is a district in Northern Bangladesh. It is a part of the Rangpur Division.- Geography :Dinajpur is bounded by Thakurgaon and Panchagarh districts in the north, Gaibandha and Joypurhat districts in the south, Nilphamari and Rangpurdistricts in the east, and the state of West Bengal, India...
. It is believed to have been involved in an explosion of seven bombs on 13 February 2003 at one of its hideouts, having been preparing to explode them in northern Bangladeshi towns during International Mother Language Day
International Mother Language Day
International Mother Language Day is an observance held annually on 21 February worldwide to promote awareness of linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism. It was first announced by UNESCO on 17 November 1999...
.
On 12 January 2005, bomb blasts at two separate cultural events in Sherpur
Sherpur District
Sherpur is a district in central Bangladesh. It is a part of the Dhaka Division. Sherpur city is located about 198 km north of Dhaka which is the capital of the country.-Subdivisions:There are 5 upazilas under this district, namely:...
and Jamalpur
Jamalpur District
Jamalpur is a district in Dhaka Division, Bangladesh. The main Jamalpur town consists of 12 wards and 80 mahallas. The municipality was established in 1869. The area of the town is 53.28 km². The town has a population of 116754; male 51.06%, female 48.94%. Density of population is 2191 per...
districts injured 25 and 10 respectively. Bomb blasts on 15 January 2005 at Jatra performances at Bogra
Bogra District
Bogra is a northern district of Bangladesh, in the Rajshahi Division. It is called the gateway to the north Bengal. It is an industrial city where many small and mid sized industries are housed. Bogra district was a part of the ancient Pundravardhana territory and Bogra was the capital of...
and Natore
Natore District
Natore is a district of Rajshahi Division located in northern Bangladesh. It borders the metropolitan city of Rajshahi, and used to be part of Rajshahi district.-History:Natore was the District Head Quarter of Rajshahi since 1769-1825...
killed two and injured over 70 people.
On August 17, 2005, 500 small bombs
17 August 2005 Bangladesh bombings
On 17 August 2005, around 500 bomb explosions occurred at 300 locations in 63 out of the 64 districts of Bangladesh. The bombs were exploded within a half hour period starting from 11:30 am. A terrorist organization, Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh claimed responsibility for the bombings...
at 300 locations in 50 cities and towns across Bangladesh detonated within the space of 30 minutes. Dhaka international airport, government buildings and major hotels were targeted. There were 50 injuries but only two fatalities - a child in Savar, near Dhaka
Dhaka
Dhaka is the capital of Bangladesh and the principal city of Dhaka Division. Dhaka is a megacity and one of the major cities of South Asia. Located on the banks of the Buriganga River, Dhaka, along with its metropolitan area, had a population of over 15 million in 2010, making it the largest city...
, and a Rickshaw-puller in Chapai Nawabganj District - because of the small size of the bombs. Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh claimed responsibility for the bombings.
Blasts later in the year were more deadly "killing judges, lawyers, policemen and common people". It killed two judges in Jhalakathi in South Bangladesh on November 14, 2005.
The group has threatened journalists, with more than 55 receiving death threats between September and December 2005.
Following a December 8, 2005 suicide bombing, Reuters reported the group threatened to kill women, including non-Muslims, who did not wear the veil
Hijab
The word "hijab" or "'" refers to both the head covering traditionally worn by Muslim women and modest Muslim styles of dress in general....
, according to news reports posted by defenddemocracy.org.
Network
The JMB is said to be the youth front of Al Mujahideen, the parent organization that began working in the mid 1990s which remains obscure even today. Other organizations, such as Jama'atul Jihad, JMB, Jagrata Muslim Janata BangladeshJagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh
Jāgrātā Muslim Jānātā Bānglādesh , also known by the acronym JMJB, is an Islamist organisation based in Bangladesh, especially around the country's north-western region. The Government of Bangladesh has classified JMJB as a terrorist organisation...
(JMJB), Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami
Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami
Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami is an Islamic fundamentalist organization most active in South Asian countries of Pakistan, Bangladesh and India since the early 1990s. It was banned in Bangladesh in 2005. The operational commander of HuJI, Ilyas Kashmiri, was reportedly killed in a U.S. Predator drone...
(HUJI), Hizbut Tawhid, Tawhidi Janata, Islami Jubo Shangha, Islami Shangha, Al Falah A'am Unnayan Shanstha and Shahadat-e al Hiqma are believed to be part of the Al Mujahideen network. Further, the JMB is believed to contain at least 100,000 members, and an alleged 2,000-man suicide brigade.
JMB allegedly received financial assistance from individual donors in Kuwait
Kuwait
The State of Kuwait is a sovereign Arab state situated in the north-east of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the south at Khafji, and Iraq to the north at Basra. It lies on the north-western shore of the Persian Gulf. The name Kuwait is derived from the...
, UAE, Bahrain
Bahrain
' , officially the Kingdom of Bahrain , is a small island state near the western shores of the Persian Gulf. It is ruled by the Al Khalifa royal family. The population in 2010 stood at 1,214,705, including 235,108 non-nationals. Formerly an emirate, Bahrain was declared a kingdom in 2002.Bahrain is...
, Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
, Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...
and Libya
Libya
Libya is an African country in the Maghreb region of North Africa bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west....
. Reports have claimed that, funding of JMB by international NGOs like Kuwait based Society of the Revival of Islamic Heritage (RIHS) and Doulatul Kuwait, Saudi Arabia based Al Haramaine Islamic Institute and Rabita Al Alam Al Islami
Muslim World League
The Muslim World League is one of the largest Islamic non-governmental organizations. Muslim religious figures from 22 states founded it in Makkah in 1962.-Structure:...
, Qatar Charitable Society and UAE-based Al Fuzaira and Khairul Ansar Al Khairia.
Some of the RIHS offices were blacklisted in 2002 by the US State Department because of alleged links with al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda is a global broad-based militant Islamist terrorist organization founded by Osama bin Laden sometime between August 1988 and late 1989. It operates as a network comprising both a multinational, stateless army and a radical Sunni Muslim movement calling for global Jihad...
. Though, these connections have not been proven. Following the blasts in August, the Bangladeshi government deported five foreign RIHS officials. Al-Haramaine was banned by the US in 2004 and its branches in Albania, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Ethiopia and the Netherlands were added by the UN Security Council to the Al-Qaeda and Taliban Sanctions Committee on 6 July 2004.
South Asian Terrorist Portal (SATP), The Columbia World Dictionary of Islamism and Defenddemocracy.org state that Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh "appears" to be connected with putatively non-violent, legal Islamist group or groups in Bangladesh, Defenddemocracy speculating that Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh is a "proxy" established by the legal Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh party to "push the center of gravity of the political debate toward radical Islamism" and make Jamaat-e-Islami appear more centrist. According to SATP, "many members of the JMB and JMJB have invariably been found to be cadres of the Islami Chhatra Shibir
Bangladesh Islami Chhatra Shibir
Bangladesh Islami Chhatra Shibir is an Islamic student organization in Bangladesh. It is the de facto student wing of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, a political party.This organization was previously named as 'Islamai Chattra Shangha'...
(ICS), student wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami, a partner in the ruling coalition" with the Bangladesh National Party "under Prime Minister Khaleda Zia
Khaleda Zia
Begum Khaleda Zia is the former First Lady of Bangladesh , and then Prime Minister of Bangladesh, having served from 1991 to 1996, becoming the first woman in the country's history and second in the Muslim world to head a democratic government as prime minister. She served again from 2001 until...
" that came to power in 2001.
Sphere of influence
Main areas of JMB operations were:- Rajshahi Division: Bogra, Sirajganj, Dinajpur, Jaipurhat, Gaibandha, Naogaon, Nator, Rajshahi, Rangpur, Tahkurgaon
- Khulna Division: Bagerhat, Jessore, Khulna, Meherpur, Satkhira
- Dhaka Division: Jamalpur, Mymensingh, Netrokona, Tangail
- Chittagong Division: Chandpur, Laxmipur, Chittagong
Leaders
Since its foundation, the group was led by Maulana Abdur Rahman, a.k.a. Siddiqul Islam a.k.a. Bangla BhaiBangla Bhai
Siddique ul-Islam , known popularly as Bangla Bhai , also known as Aziz ur-Rahman Azizur Rôhman, was a Bangladeshi terrorist and the military commander of the Al Qaeda affiliated radical pseudo-Islamist organization Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh , known in popular usage as...
, Shaykh Abdur Rahman
Shaykh Abdur Rahman
Shaykh Abdur Rahman, also known as Abdur Rahman Shaykh, was the spiritual leader and the administrative head of the banned terrorist organization Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh ....
. Six of their top men were captured by RAB
Rapid Action Battalion
Rapid Action Battalion or RAB is an elite anti-crime and anti-terrorism unit of Bangladesh Police constituted amending the Armed Police Battalion Ordinance, 1979. Under the command of Inspector General of Police it consists of members of Bangladesh Police, Bangladesh Army, Bangladesh Navy,...
security authorities in 2005. On the evening of 29 March 2007, Abdur Rahman, Bangla Bhai, and four other leaders of the organization were executed by hanging for the killing of two judges and for countrywide bombings in 2005.
Organisation
The JMJB reportedly has a three-tier organisation. The first tier of the outfit consists of activists called Ehsar who are recruited on a full-time basis and act at the behest of the higher echelons. The second tier, known as Gayeri Ehsar, has over 100,000 part-time activists. The third tier involves those who indirectly co-operate with the JMJB. According to JMJB leaders, the whole country has been divided into nine organisational divisions. Khulna, Barisal, Sylhet and Chittagong have an organisational divisional office each, while Dhaka has two divisional offices and Rajshahi three.The outfit also had committees in each village and according to media reports villagers were being forced to join the committees. If anybody refused, he was branded as a "collaborator" of the PBCP and taken to the JMJB "trial centre".External links
- Institute for Counter-Terrorism's Spotlight Report on the JMB 2007
- BBC report of August 2005 attacks
- Reporters Without Borders report
- Jane's Security news on JMB, April 2006
- International Herald Tribune article on the August 17 Bombings
- The Bangladesh Observer editorial
- Bangladesh Assessment 2003
- Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies
- The Daily Star: Bangla Bhai active for 6 years
- The Daily Star: The deadly terror outfit, rise of its kingpins
- The Daily Star: Rise and fall of a dreaded militant leader
- South Asia Terrorism Portal
- Bomb blast map