While in service, detained army lance corporal (retd) Shamsul Islam, mastermind of Brahmanbaria bomb explosion, used to pay monthly contributions to outlawed Harkat-ul-jihad-Al-Islam (Huji) for carrying out its activities.
| Not just a member, but a dues-paying member ... |
A highly placed source in Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) yesterday said Shamsul had often visited the den of Huji leader Abdur Rouf at Bhaluka in Mymensingh where he also took lessons on jihad.
| ... and survived the red wire-green wire test. |
Shamsul yesterday made a statement before the additional judicial magistrate in Brahmanbaria confessing his involvement in militancy and visit to Rouf's den.
| "Yeah. I dunnit an' I'm glad! So stop hitting me!" |
In the painfully-extracted six-page statement he said he had also close connection with Huji leader Mufti Abdul Hannan, prime suspect in several deadly grenade attack cases including the August 21 grenade attack.
Rouf is also an accused of the August 21 grenade attack on an Awami League rally in 2004 that left 24 killed and scores other injured. He served as a commander of Huji in Arakan in Myanmar between 1994 and 1998 and was sacked from the organisation in 1998. He later formed Tanjim-e-Tamiruddin in 2005 but as intelligence agencies learned about its suspected activities, he renamed it Hijbe Abu Omar in the early 2006. He was arrested on August 2 the same year.
Rab arrested Shamsul with his four associates on April 26 in Brahmanbaria. They are Tajul Islam Al Mahmud alias Baba Tajul, Mizanur Rahman, Jamal Miah and Saiful Islam. Of them, Jamal also gave confessional statement before the magistrate. |