Bangladesh: Canadian Among Two Identified as ‘Masterminds’ of Café Attack

Bangladeshi police on Tuesday identified a Canadian and a former military officer as suspected masterminds of a terrorist attack that killed 20 hostages at a café in Dhaka last month.

Bangladesh-born Canadian citizen Tamim Chowdhury and fugitive ex-army Maj. Syed Mohammad Ziaul Haq are suspected leaders of home-grown militant groups, police said in announcing bounties of 2 million taka (U.S. $25,565) on each of their heads.

Both men are wanted in connection with the July 1 attack on the Holey Artisan Bakery café as well as an attack on July 7 that targeted a prayer gathering in northwestern Bangladesh on the Eid-ul-Fitr holiday, and which left four people dead, Bangladesh’s police chief told a news conference in Dhaka.

“During the course of the investigation, we detected mastermind Tamim Chowdhury. He has been leading the new JMB [Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh]. …We do not know whether he is in Bangladesh or outside the country,” Police Inspector-General A.K.M. Shahidul Hoque told reporters.

Major Haq was dismissed from the army for allegedly organizing an attempted coup, and he now leads Ansarullah Bangla Team, Hoque said. Police earlier had blamed ABT for being behind a spate of killings targeting secular Bangladeshi bloggers since February 2015.

“He is another mastermind,” the police chief said.

Full story: benarnews.org

Kamran Reza Chowdhury