Ansar Al Islam operating under a different name, 3 active members arrested in Cox’s Bazar

The banned militant outfit “Ansar Al Islam” is conducting its activities under the name “As-Shahadat” as it has been banned in the country.

The Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) has arrested three members of “As-Shahadat” from Cox’s Bazar’s Choufaldandi area early today (28 June).

Extremist booklets, leaflets and manuals for making explosives were recovered during the operation, confirmed Commander Arafat, RAB’s Legal and Media Wing, during a press conference organised at Cox’s Bazar RAB 15 office today.

The arrested are Zakaria Mondol, 19, of Islampur area of Jamalpur; Niamat Ullah, 21, of Borhan Uddin upazila of Bhola; and Md Ozair, 19, of Sonagajir area of Feni.

In the press conference, Commander Arafat Islam said that based on the RAB headquarters’ intelligence information, RAB-15 and RAB-7 jointly conducted the operation from midnight today until morning in the Choufaldandi area.

Quoting the arrestees, he said they were inspired by the rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan to join the militant organisation “Ansar al Islam” of Al Qaeda ideology.

The activities of Ansar Al Islam almost came to a standstill as a result of regular raids by RAB and other law enforcement agencies, he added.

The RAB official said, “Ansar al-Islam is failing to conduct its activities, including recruitment of new members. To keep their activities going, members of Ansar al-Islam created a new militant group called ‘As-Shahadat’ and started recruiting new members and conducting invitational activities.”

The group is being run from a neighbouring country and the organisation has an estimated 85-100 members.

The founders of this group are Habibullah, a citizen of a neighbouring country, and Amir Salahuddin.