NEW DELHI: In what could pose a major challenge to the security agencies, a splinter group of the Bangladesh-based Jamat-ul-Mujahideen-Bangladesh has allied with the international terror group Islamic State (IS) comprising mostly the Rohingya Muslims.
Probe into the Dhaka (Gulshan Cafe) terror attack revealed that New JMB has come to the fore in alliance with the IS. The input has been shared by Bangla authorities with Indian agencies including National Investigation Agency.
Agencies here suspect that New JMB could tap the migrant community settled in Jammu and Kashmir, Northeast and Hyderabad for recruitment and radicalisation. About 50,000 migrant Rohingyas are settled in Northeast, Hyderabad and J&K. Nearly, 10,000 of the Rohingyas are settled in J&K.
Earlier, the role of Rohingyas in terror attacks in India has already been recorded after the NIA probe into the jehadi attack at the Bodh Gaya revealed their involvement. This besides, the name of a Rohingya also came to light after a module of the IS was busted by the Hyderabad police in 2015. The Hyderabad IS module was being helped by the Harkat-ul-Jehad Islami of Bangladesh. It had earlier allied with al-Qaeda but now it has tied up with IS. HUJI has helped form the New JMB, NIA sources said.
The original JMB had formed an elaborate network for recruitment and manufacturing of IEDs in Bengal, Jharkhand and Northeastern states such as Assam leading to a major crackdown on their activities in these states by forces.
Indian has also been informed that the Dhaka siege was prolonged as both forces and terrorists were using the same telecom network.
“The revelation that a common telecom network was being used by the terrorists and the security agencies, has thrown an opportunity to India to develop a dedicated network for agencies in Bangladesh so that the situation is not repeated,” expert Dr Rituraj Mate said.