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| Bangladesh |
| Huji first to use hills |
| 2009-10-02 |
| [Bangla Daily Star] Harkat-ul-Jihad al Islami (Huji) was the first militant group to use the remote hill areas in Chittagong for arms training. It set up training camps in the hills in the early 90s. It packed up when the law enforcers began cracking down on the militants after Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh staged countrywide serial blasts on August 17, 2005. JMB, which used to have training facilities mainly in plains, however moved to hill forests. Militant camps in the hills have become an issue much-talked about with Rapid Action Battalion's recent busting of a JMB camp in Khagrachhari. Speaking to The Daily Star about the origins of militant training in the country, Huji insiders say their organisation started recruitment in the late 80s. Initially, its activities were concentrated at madrasas in Chittagong. It began training the recruits how to operate firearms and explosives at some makeshift camps in far-flung hill areas there in 1989. Its job became easier after Rohingya insurgents entered Bangladesh in 1991. "At first, we had to use dummy firearms. But it all changed as a large number of Rohingya insurgents turned up with sophisticated firearms," said a source who had training from the outfit. When the Rohingyas took refuge in Bangladesh, insurgents slipped in with them and started building camps at the places Huji had already been using. For shelter, food and other help, they gave Huji access to their firearms and explosives. As the relations grew stronger, many madrasa students involved in Huji went to Myanmar to fight for the Rohingya insurgents. Several of them were even killed in action. Foreign militant leaders and officials of Islamic NGOs that financed militancy campaign to take root in Bangladesh visited the camps, posing as Islamic scholars. Both Huji and the Rohingya militants used madrasas and mosques in Cox's Bazar, Teknaf, Ukhia and other areas in Chittagong division as a cover for their activities. Their similar looks and dialect helped them escape unwanted attention. Throughout the first half of the 90s, law enforcement agencies had either ignored or tacitly encouraged militant activities thinking it might help them deal with the local insurgents, said intelligence sources. The militants ran camps also in deep forests of Fatikchhari, Putia, Hathazari, Raozan, Rangunia and Satkania in Chittagong. In 2004, police happened to bust two militant camps in Hathazari and Rangunia upazilas. The Hathazari camp was set up just two months before the raid. By the time it was closed down it was used to train over 60 youths in arms operation. |
| Posted by:Fred |