Free Preview of Members-Only Content
To view the requested intelligence, you must be a Stratfor.com member.
The past few months have seen a dramatic escalation of violent activity by the banned Bangladeshi group Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen (JuM), sometimes referred to as Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB). According to a Nov. 22 report in the Bangladeshi English-language Daily Star newspaper, the JuM's policymaking body -- Majlis-e-Shura -- recently ordered its bomb and suicide squad members to fight their opposition to the death and to continue striking government offices and courts.
The group claimed responsibility for the Nov. 14 attack that killed two Bangladeshi judges in the coastal town of Jhalakathi, 155 miles south of Dhaka. The targets of that attack -- judges -- fit with JuM's current campaign to use violence to establish Shariah (Islamic law) in Bangladesh. The group repeatedly has threatened to attack judges, the law minister and court buildings if Shariah is not instituted. JuM literature also was found at the home of the suspect in the Nov. 14 attack, a self-proclaimed JuM member who was captured at the scene.
JuM conducted a series of small-scale attacks Aug. 17, using 503 small improvised explosive devices (IEDs) placed across Bangladesh and coordinated to explode between 11 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. The devices were placed in 63 of Bangladesh's 64 districts, and 18 of the IEDs reportedly were recovered intact. Though the devices did not contain shrapnel, they did result in two deaths and injured an additional 115 people.
On Oct. 3, three IEDs exploded in district court buildings outside Dhaka, killing two people and reportedly wounding more than 40. These devices were reported to be larger than those used Aug. 17.
| Stratfor Members, please log in at the top left hand corner |
