Katana VentraIP

Islamic State – Bengal Province

Islamic State – Bengal Province (IS-BP) is an administrative division of the Islamic State, a Salafi jihadist militant group and former unrecognised Quasi-state. The group was announced by ISIL as its province in 2016.[4] The first emir of Wilayat al-Bengal, Abu Ibrahim al-Hanif, is believed to be Mohammad Saifullah Ozaki (born as Sajit Chandra Debnath, 1982) a Bangladeshi Japanese economist who went to Syria in 2015 and joined IS. A Hindu convert to Islam, he reportedly led the 2016 Dhaka attack. He was detained in Iraq in 2019 and Abu Muhammed al-Bengali was announced as the new emir of the province.[5][6]

Islamic State – Bengal Province

Abul Abbas al-Bengali

2016 – Present

No Headquarter

unknown

Neo-Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh, an offshoot of Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (Al-Qaeda affiliated), effectively operates as the main IS branch in Bangladesh.[6]


It has been designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization under the SDN by the United States Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control, with addresses in Dhaka, Rangpur, Sylhet and Jhenaidah.[7] It has also been designated as a Terrorist Organization by Canada.[8]

May: A deadly attack was carried out by the ISIL-affiliated extremist group in which 46 Shia Muslims were targeted for their opposing religious views.[21]

Jundullah

28 September: Italian citizen Tavella Cesare was murdered whilst jogging in Dhaka. The Bangladeshi suspects told police that they were hired by an entity they called "Big Brother" to kill a foreigner. Although none of the arrested men made any overt reference to ISIL, the attack was claimed by the terrorist group.[12]

[17]

3 October: Japanese national Kunio Hoshi was shot to death in Mahigonj, . Although the police blamed JMB for the attack, responsibility was claimed by ISIL in their online publication.[17][12] Two days later, militants stabbed Luke Sarker,a baptist pastor from Pabna, Pabna District, Rajshahi division. Sarker survived to the assault.[22][23] In October five suspect militants were arrested by the security forces for its relationship with the attacks.[24]

Rangpur District

24 October: ISIL affiliates claimed responsibility for a bombing outside Huseini Dalan, a place of worship in Dhaka, where the attackers targeted a Shi’ite gathering. Two people were killed, and about 100 were injured.[26]

[25]

November: An interview, "The Revival of Jihad in Bengal", was published in the ISIL magazine .[27]

Dabiq

4 November: ISIL claimed responsibility for an attack on a police checkpoint in which a police officer was killed.[28]

[25]

8 November: Terrorist opened fire on Ruhul Amin in , Rangpur Division, Bangladesh. The attack left one wounded.[29]

Rangpur

10 November: IS militants killed Rahmat Ali. with a knife, a caretaker of a Muslim shrine, the stabbing took place in , Rangpur division. In march of 2018, 7 militants were sentenced to death for the murder of Rahmat Ali.[30]

Kaunia Upazila

18 November: IS Terrorist opened fire on Piero Parolari an italian catholic priest, resultseriously wounded for the attack.[32]

[31]

25 November: The group claimed responsibility for a suicide attack at an mosque. In addition to the dead bomber, about a dozen people were injured.[25] In the next day, militants attack a shia mosque in[33]

Ahmadiyya

5 December: Three explosive devices blasts at the Kantaji Hindu temple near , Dinajpur division, Bangladesh. At least 10 people were wounded in the attack.[34]

Dinajpur

18 December: IS terrorist threw various explosive devices at a mosque during prayer services at the Chittagong naval base in , Chittagong division. The attack left eight navy employees.[35][36]

Chittagong

25 December: A suicide bomber blast in Ahmadi Mosque, , the attack left the attacker dead and three civilians wounded.[37][38]

Bagmara Upazila

Bangladeshi response[edit]

Despite many attacks attributed to ISIL by police and claimed by the organization, the government denies its presence in Bangladesh[12][10] and has been slow to react to homegrown threats. One reason for the denial is Bangladesh's position as home to the world's second-largest garment industry (after China). Terrorist attacks and a government-confirmed ISIL presence might damage foreign trust in the country, affecting travel and trade.[60]


JMB leader Bangla Bhai was hanged in 2007 for murder. The group has been announced as an ISIL branch in Bangladesh, despite the government's denial of an ISIL presence in the country.[12] The United States Office of Foreign Assets Control and the State Department have identified an "ISIS-Bangladesh", citing the 2015 murder of Tavella Cesare and the July 2016 Dhaka attack as evidence of an ISIL presence in Bangladesh.[61][62]


The Bangladeshi government is enlisting international organizations and local community leaders to help alter local acceptance of Islamic extremist actions in the country.[12] Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has asked other countries with ISIL activity in diaspora communities, such as the United Kingdom, to take preventive action against individuals who are radicalising communities and transplanting ideology (and militancy) back to Bangladesh; the diaspora community in England has proven ties to ISIL and JMB.[63]


To bolster governmental strength in Bangladesh, the country have cooperated with the United States to fortify their borders against bi-directional militant migration. The Bangladesh Coast Guard, Navy's Special Warfare and Diving Salvage unit and the army's 1st Para-Commando Battalion were trained by the U.S. Special Operations Command Pacific in 2015.[25]


Bangladesh's government has committed itself to the anti-terrorist movement, participating in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation counter-terrorist protocols and adopting the stance and measures promoted by the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy.[25] They are part of the Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering, which aims to thwart financing of militants and terrorist organizations. Although the Antiterrorism Act of 2009 does not explicitly outlaw recruitment and migration (fundamental to the spread of terrorism), legal action has been taken against individuals suspected of facilitating recruitment in Bangladesh and abroad.[58]


At January 7th 2023, Bengali police has arrested 2 men who was suspected to be part of ISIL at Howrah's Tikiapara area in Kolkata, after they was involved in spreading tentacles of the group. One of them admitted to having connections with ISIL functionaries in Pakistan and West Asia.[64]

ISIL insurgency in Tunisia

Terrorism in Pakistan

Terrorism in India

Insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir

Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent

Attacks by Islamic extremists in Bangladesh