JMB sending leaflets to schools, colleges by post

File photo of August 17 leaflets

The chairman and some members of Mohimaganj Union Parishad in Gobindaganj upazila said they received such leaflets of Jamaatul Mujahideen, sent by post. The letters bore seal of Gaibandha Head Post Office. This is creating panic among local people, they said.

"We are panicked and confused after receiving Jamaatul Mujahideen leaflets by post", said Ataur Rahman, Principal of Adarsha College in Gaibandha.

Tap here to add The Daily Star as a trusted source

Police said the leaflets sent by post are similar to those found at Takierbazar in Plashbari upazila on December 25 last year and at Mohimaganj BRAC office on February 10 this year. The bombs that exploded at the two spots earlier had time device, police said.

Sources in Gaibandha police and intelligence agencies said they are keeping watch on Saghata upazila, a 'den of Islamist extremists'.

Jamaatul Mujahideen alleegdly started its activists in the upazila in early last year. Ahle Hadith Bangladesh chief Dr. Asadullah Galib and JMJB Commander Siddiqul Islam alias Bangla Bhai had visited the areas.

Bangla Bhai had a special advantage in building a network of his activists in the area as his father-in-law is a native there, police and some local people said.

Dr. Galib has a large number of followers in Saghata upazila, sources said. He has set up a Taudhidi Trust on 22 bighas of land there with financial assistance from some donor organisations based in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.

Dr. Galib has also built madrashas and orphanages at Jumarbari, Barokona, Kundopara, Chandpur and Basanterpara in Shaghata upazila. At Barokona, there is a three-story residential Qawmi Madrasha, wherefrom organisational work is being done.

Both Dr. Galib and Bangla Bhai paid several visits to the area during December last year and January this year, sources said.

They claimed that Bangla Bhai recruited many of his armed followers from this area. They were involved in bomb blasts in Joypurhat and Gurgola in Dinajpur and in Gaibandha district, locals said.