ISIL in Bangladesh

ISIL flag

ISIL activity originated in Iraq, and has spread from the Middle East to the African countries of Egypt, Mali and Somalia; South Asian countries such as Bangladesh, Pakistan and India, and southeast Asian countries such as Indonesia and the Philippines. The group aims to retake Greater Khorasan, a historical region which covers Afghanistan and part of Central Asia. The Khorasan branch of ISIL is based in South Asia.[1]

The terrorist organisation has used social unrest, the dissolution of language barriers, and local underground support to recruit South Asian militants for global jihad. The flow of Rohingya Muslim refugees from Myanmar has been targeted for recruitment by ISIL when the refugees enter Bangladesh.[2][3] Some of these refugees are also targeted and supported by Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami (BJeI), the country's largest Islamist political party.

In 2002, the Bangladeshi extremist group Jamatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) formed a committee in Malda City, India. JMB is the most active extremist group in Bangladesh, and has linked itself to ISIL.[3] The group exploited permeable borders between India and Bangladesh to transport explosives, and are believed to be responsible for the Bardham bombing near the India-Bangladesh border in 2014. JMB, which was funded and militarized by the Taliban in the AfPak region before receiving ISIL support,[4] targets minorities in Bangladesh.[3]

Attacks inspired by ISIL have occurred across South Asia, including Quetta, Pakistan, Kabul, Afghanistan and Dhaka, Bangladesh. Youths from these countries have increasingly travelled from South Asia to Syria and Iraq.[1] ISIL influences, recruits, strategises and organises with social media.[5] Indian cells of ISIL have been identified by Indian forces in Madhya Pradesh, Kalyan, Kerala, Hyderabad, and Uttar and Madhya Pradesh. ISIL is most present in India through online social networks. The group has also attempted to infiltrate the unstable state of Jammu and Kashmir, a region disputed by India and Pakistan for religious and territorial reasons.[6]

Bangladesh is a secular democracy with a majority-Muslim population and a low median standard of living. Since its independence from Muslim Pakistan in 1971, Islamic extremism and the push for a united Islamic state across the subcontinent has been a catalyst for homegrown action and international interest in Bangladesh.[2] Bombings, shootings and stabbings have been claimed by ISIL, targeting Westerners and other foreigners and Shia Muslims. Most attacks in Bangladesh are made by proxy groups later claimed (or attributed) to ISIL, and the amount of direct ISIL influence is unclear.[7]

In June 2014, ISIL declared themselves a worldwide caliphate with Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as their leader.[8] That August, ISIL distributed a video of Bengalis pledging allegiance to the group in Bengali.[9][4] Bangladesh was not included in the group's five-year plan published that year, despite its being a Muslim-majority country.[10] Since 2015, the government of Bangladesh has adopted a vocal, zero-tolerance policy towards terrorism and Islamic extremism.[11] ISIL has admitted targeting (and attacking) secular Bangladeshis, Shia Muslims, foreigners, bloggers and other individuals who oppose their goal.[2] The group has a sizable online presence in Bangladesh through social media, and a growing physical influence (despite government denial).[4]

Domestic terrorist organizations are increasingly active with the support of transnational organizations such as ISIL, both physically and online through social media. Since 2013, over 40 vocal secularists have been murdered by these homegrown groups.[4] According to JMB and ISIL, JMB members were acting on ISIL's behalf in Bangladesh. The group recruits in wealthy areas of Dhaka (such as Banani) and in places where youths gather for studying and coaching.[3] The Bangladeshi government calls the group the "neo-JMB".[12]

• May: A deadly attack was carried out by the ISIL-affiliated extremist group Jundullah in which 46 Shia Muslims were targeted for their opposing religious views.[13]
• 28 September: Italian citizen Tavella Cesare was murdered whilst jogging in Dhaka. The Bangladeshi suspects told police that they were hired by an entity they called "Big Brother" to kill a foreigner. Although none of the arrested men made any overt reference to ISIL, the attack was claimed by the terrorist group.[9][4]
• 3 October: Japanese national Kunio Hoshi was shot to death in a village in Rangpur District. Although the police blamed JMB for the attack, responsibility was claimed by ISIL in their online publication.[9][4]
• 24 October: ISIL affiliates claimed responsibility for a bombing outside Huseini Dalan, a place of worship in Dhaka, where the attackers targeted a Shi’ite gathering. One person was killed, and about 100 were injured.[9][4][14]
• November: An interview, "The Revival of Jihad in Bengal", was published in the ISIL magazine Dabiq.[15]
• 4 November: ISIL claimed responsibility for an attack on a police checkpoint in which a police officer was killed.[14]
• 25 November: The group claimed responsibility for a suicide attack at an Ahmadiyya mosque. In addition to the dead bomber, about a dozen people were injured.[14]

During the first six months of 2016, ISIL carried out eleven attacks throughout Bangladesh. They launched religiously-motivated attacks against Hindus in Bonpara, Dhaka, Jhenaidah and Rangpur, Christians in Bonpara, Rangpur and Kushtia District, and targeted a Buddhist leader in Jhenaidah.[16]

• 22 February: The group took responsibility for an attack in northern Bangladeshi Panchagarh District in which Jogeswar Roy, a Hindu priest, was killed and two others injured.[17][9]
• 14 March: Hafiz Abdul Razak, a Shia cleric, was stabbed to death in Jhenaidah District in an assassination for which ISIL claimed responsibility.
• 23 April: University professor Rezaul Karim Siddique was murdered with machetes in Rajshahi. Although responsibility for the attack was claimed by ISIL, officials believed that it may have been a copycat crime rather than one committed by the group.[9]
• 25 April: Two men were killed with machetes by militants in an attack claimed by ISIL. One, Xulhaz Mannan, was an activist for gay rights in Bangladesh. Editor of the country's only LGBT magazine, he had been living at the American embassy in Dhaka.
• 25 May: The murder of a Hindu businessman was attributed to the group.[9]
• 7 June: A Hindu monk was murdered by militants in western Bangladesh in an attack claimed by ISIL,[9] and an elderly Christian grocer was hacked to death in Bonpara.[18]
• 1 July: On the last Friday of Ramadan, five young JMB members stormed the Holey Artisan Bakery in Dhaka's Gulshan Thana neighbourhood. Its occupants were taken hostage, and the attackers targeted foreigners or Muslims not deemed sufficiently devout. Twenty-two people were killed (18 of whom were foreigners), and 50 others were injured.[19][16][20] It was the largest extremist attack in Bangladesh since 1996.[21] The attackers discriminated between foreigners and Bangladeshi citizens, and (of the Bangladeshis) between fundamentalist and moderate Muslims. Those who could quote the Quran were spared and treated well, and those who could not were executed.[22] The attack was broadcast live to ISIL-affiliated social-media accounts with the bakery's WiFi.[23] Photos of the attackers in front of ISIL flags were displayed.[21] Bangladesh's prime minister denied ISIL involvement, attributing the attack to domestic militancy. It was the worst attack in over a decade, when JMB set of synchronised bombs throughout Bangladesh which killed two dozen people.[24]
• 7 July: A suicide attack near the Eidgah in Sholakia killed four members of a large Eid al-Fitr congregation.[25] It was prompted by ISIL and their followers' belief that any form of Islam other than Salafism is too moderate and justifies jihad.[22]

• 17 March: A militant suspected of being a JMB member entered a Rapid Action Battalion compound with an explosive belt in an attempted suicide-bomb attack. The attacker detonated his vest when he was approached by two compound officials, killing himself and wounding them.[26]
• 24 March: ISIL claimed responsibility for a failed suicide-bomb attack at a police checkpoint near Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka. The attack killed the militant, but there were no other injuries. It was suspected that the bomb detonated prematurely.[27][28]
• 25 March: Eight people were killed, including two police officers, and more than 40 were injured in a dual bombing in Sylhet.[28] Military and police forces were attempting to raid a militant safe house believed to belong to ISIL when the explosions occurred; one came from a man on a motorbike, and the other was planted in a bag of vegetables. According to the Bangladesh Army, the militants were detonating other bombs around the city.[29] The attack occurred on the first observance of Bengali Genocide Remembrance Day.
• November: A Biman Bangladesh Airlines pilot pled guilty to conspiring to crash a passenger plane into Ganabhaban, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's residence.[28]