The terrorist attack at the Holey Artisan cafe left 22 people dead. After the mass arrests in Bangladesh, no further massacres of this magnitude occurred. However, jihadist organisations are trying to rebuild: investigators believe that the leader of the JMB is organising activities via the Internet from Turkey, especially targeting young people.
Dhaka () – Eight years ago, at around 8:45 pm on July 1, 2016, an armed terrorist group attacked the Holey Artisan restaurant in Gulshan, sowing chaos and terror and killing 22 people. At that time, as now, the shadow of Islamic fundamentalism was very present in Bangladesh. The sad anniversary of the massacre claimed by ISIS – in which all the commandos were killed after taking many people hostage – is an opportunity to remember that the activities of the banned organisations have not ceased in the country. They are still carried out on the Internet and are aimed mainly at teenagers. Police sources say that the militants recruit young people between 18 and 20 years old, as well as students and teachers from madrassas.
The victims of the attack on the Gulshan cafe were nine Italians, seven Japanese, one Indian, one American, two Bangladeshi citizens and two police officers. Police and the army, who intervened to neutralise the terrorists, killed six militants and brought 32 citizens and foreigners to safety. Officials from several embassies in Bangladesh today paid tribute to the victims of the terrorist attack at the restaurant located in a residential area of Dhaka. Prayers are being held in Catholic churches throughout the country for the souls of the 22 victims.
Despite the passage of time, the brutal attack has left a deep mark on Bangladesh. Investigators recently arrested five members of an organisation called As Shahadat in Cox’s Bazar, revealing that the militants manage to evade controls by communicating even from prison.
This is not an isolated case. Asaduzzaman, head of the Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime Unit (CTTC) and deputy police commissioner in Dhaka, said that the Islamist militant group Ansar Al Islam still poses a threat. Its activities are being monitored, but one of the biggest challenges is its structuring in cyberspace, using different applications.
Since July 1, 2016, top leaders of the banned organisations have been arrested one after another in the country and several of them have been killed. In these years, the police have arrested nearly 4,000 militants. But the recruitment activities continue. According to sources from the CTTC unit of the police and the intelligence team of RAB (the anti-crime and anti-terror unit of the Bangladesh police), the current leader of JMB, Mahadi Hasan John, is carrying out organisational activities online from Turkey. The first targets are the youth, who are easily influenced by misrepresentations. The militants have held secret meetings with these members at different times, in religious places, in private homes and other places. Just a few days ago, on June 27, the RAB arrested three active members of the banned militant organisation Ansar Al Islam in Choufaldandi.
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