1.5.19

IS issues direct threat to attack India & Bangladesh

Naming one Abu Muhammed al-Bengali as its new emir in ‘Bengal’, an Islamic State affiliate group issued a direct threat to carry out strikes in India and Bangladesh.

“If you think you have silenced the soldiers of the Khilafa in Bengal and Hind and you are certain about that then listen... we men are never to be silenced.. And are thirst for revenge is never to be faded away (sic),” the IS poster released in Bengali, English and Hindi reads.

The development comes just a day after the Islamic State group carried out a minor explosion near a cinema theatre in Dhaka. The explosion took place near Gulistan theatre around 7.30 pm on Monday. Though no casualties were reported as there was some problem with the bomb assembly, a few policemen did sustain injuries.

IS released a statement in Arabic in the early hours of Tuesday through its mouthpiece Amaq. Subsequently, it also released a Bengali translation of its statement on the Dhaka attack along with a transcript of the speech of the group’s chief, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

Indian intelligence is closely monitoring the developments in Bangladesh as they suspect this incident could be a smokescreen and the real attack may still be coming either in Bangladesh or West Bengal. The quick unfolding of developments and spurt in circulation of IS-related material in Bengali has rung alarm bells across agencies. Last Thursday, pro-IS Telegram channels had released a poster in Bengali saying “Coming soon”. The poster flashed the logo of a group called al Mursalat and the Tuesday threat was issued by the same group.

“It is serious.. IS has just managed to pull of serial blasts in Colombo through a local outfit. Bangladesh already has a strong IS presence with a section of the local terrorist organisation named Jamatul Mujahideen (New-JMB) being affiliated to the IS central,” an officer said.

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