Indian intel rules out IS link to Bangla murders

NEW DELHI: Indian agencies, just like Bangladesh premier Sheikh Hasina, seem to discount the possibility of Islamic State’s involvement in the recent killings of an Italian and a Japanese national in the neighbouring country. They have instead sought to blame Jamaat-e-Islami rebels and see the murderous attacks as a ploy to draw attention of the Western nations to “targeting of their top leaders for 1971 war crimes without proper trial as required by an international war tribunal”.
“The hanging of some top Jamaat-e-Islami (JEI) leaders may be due in the near future; one of the most prominent leaders on the death row is Motiur Rahman Nizami, whose appeal is now being heard by the Supreme Court,” a senior officer of the Indian establishment pointed out. “The attacks on foreigners seem to aimed at drawing the immediate attention of the West. Also, given that IS generates the widest interest across the globe, JeI may be projecting attacks by extremists linked to it as those executed by IS. This attracts immediate condemnation by the western world and may further JeI’s intention to project the Hasina government as ineffective in managing the security situation,” said the officer.
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Agencies feel the Bangladesh killings do not bear the IS hallmark. Beheading victims and videographing the brutal murders is a known modus operandi of IS and the killings in Bangladesh were both shooting incidents. Though Bangladesh has rounded up some suspects, no evidence of their links with IS has been found so far. “Those detained may not be the real perpetrators, but investigations are on to identify them…but until now, there is nothing beyond a claim to establish any IS link,” said an official following the events in Bangladesh.
“The only explanation that can be found is that Jamaat elements, hurt by the war crimes trial of its senior leaders that has already seen the execution of Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid and Mohammad Kamaruzzaman, are hitting back at Hasina regime by indulging in sensational murders of foreign citizens on its soil. The purpose may be to put the Hasina regime on the backfoot, considering that it had managed to keep things under check over the last couple of years, earning international approval,” said an intelligence officer.
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While an Italian aid worker was shot dead by assailants in the diplomatic area of Dhaka last Monday, a Japanese national was killed in Rangpur on Saturday. The IS owned up to both the killings, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors jihadi postings online.