Bangladesh: Several bombs & bomb making materials seized in Savar

Lifting our focus to Bangladesh, Dhaka's textile hubs of Savar and Ashulya are back in news for reasons which are not linked to garments. The areas once known as nerve center for J&B's terror activities are witnessing a trail of bomb recoveries and intel agencies are trying to join the talks. Well, 21 years ago the industrial town of Savar made global news during J&B's massive nationwide terror attack when six bombs exploded in Savar alone. Later the head of J&B's division was arrested from this area. Two decades on, the town is back in focus. At least 16 explosives, including two powerful pressure cooker-type bombs, have been recovered from Savar and Ashulya over the past two weeks. 14 of these bombs and bomb-making material was recovered near Amadarsa in Savar. Bangladesh intel agencies are now suspecting possible emergence of a new J&B group. Agencies believe that operatives linked to the group are linked to at least 11 incidents in the last eight months. The recoveries in Savar and Ashulya are born to a familiar pattern. The textile hubs are densely populated neighborhoods with high percentage of migrant population and this influx makes it easier for terror operatives to mingle with workers and carry out their activities and then leave the area shortly thereafter. While the possible regrouping of neo J&B outfits is a security challenge for Bangladesh, New Delhi too will take serious note of developments in Dhaka. The Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen or J&B has known to have active presence across India's border states of Bengal and Assam. In 2020, J&B's leader Salahuddin Ahmad was reportedly located in Bengal. The group had also been linked to the terror attack on the Buddhist site of Bodh Gaya in 2018. Emergence of neo J&B outfits are to India's security threat since the J&B itself aligns with Al-Qaeda and the group has also used online forums linked to the Al-Qaeda in the Indian subcontinent. Even the UN officially linked the AQIS to the Red Fort blast in Delhi last year stating that the group is evolving from a fragmented group into a regional terror entity.