After months of staying hidden in hibernation, Ansarullah Bangla Team was planning to raise its head again by killing a series of bloggers and secular personalities.
Law enforcement sources said the militants were also planning attacks on mass public gatherings such as the ones seen during the International Mother Language Day and Pohela Boishakh.
However, their intentions were foiled when a joint police team conducted a 30-hour-long drive throughout the weekend to bust an Ansarullah base in Badda and a bomb-making factory in Mohammadpur.
A new hit-list of targets and planning details of the assassination missions were among the most significant finds during the drive by the new Counter-terrorism and Transnational Crime Unit and the Detective Branch of the police.
DB Deputy Commissioner Mashruqure Rahman Khaled confirmed about the recovery of the hit-list; but he refused to disclose any further details as investigation was still going on.
“We have got some clues and information which we are now analysing,” he told the Dhaka Tribune.
According to an official who took part in the drive, documents recovered in Badda included a draft plan for killing two bloggers in the capital’s Uttara and Azimpur areas. The plans also contained maps marked with attack and escape routes.
The documents also contained details about how many people would take part in the killings and what their roles would be, the official added.
According to sources close to the investigation, some sensational information was also recovered during the drive that might help solve mysteries behind the previous attacks on bloggers and publishers.
Deputy Commissioner Khaled said the police were still looking whether the banned militant outfit had any other den in the capital.
The two men arrested during the weekend drive would be placed before a court with a remand request as soon as cases are filed, he added.
On Friday, police acted on a tip-off and arrested two Ansarullah members – Kalam alias Shahin alias Jamal, 26, and Shah Alam alias Salahuddin alias Hiron, 30 – from a house in Badda. Some other suspects managed to flee.
But based on the information provided by the two detainees, the joint team recovered a large cache of bombs and explosives from a top-floor-flat of a five-storey building in Nabodoy housing area in Mohammadpur.
‘Recovery of bombs disconcerting’
The recovery of the bombs cache is a cause for concern as this was the first time the police found such improvised explosive devices from an Ansarullah den, said Monirul Islam, additional commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police.
The weapon of choice in most previous Ansarullah attacks had been machetes or sharp weapons.
“But the devices and explosives that were found in their [Ansarullah] den are capable of destroying a multi-story building at a time,” said Monirul, who is heading the newly formed counter-terrorism unit.
Other militant outfits like Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) and Harkat-ul Jihad al-Islami Bangladesh (HujiB) had previously used explosives, but now the Ansarullah was not only showing interest in such things but also preparing it after setting up a factory in the capital, Monirul cautioned.
However, he expressed hopes that the latest Ansarullah bust would lead to more clues being unearthed and success in apprehending more militants.
Source: Dhaka Tribune