Holey Artisan attack in Dhaka

Mohammad Masiuddin

NEW DELHI: The mastermind behind theand the murder of English professor Rezaul Karim at Rajshahi university is fugitive Jamaat-ul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) leader Mohammed Suleiman, a key Islamic State operative held in India has revealed.Indian nationalalias Abu Musa has told his interrogators that the April 23 killing of the professor and the July 1 attack on the upmarket cafe in Dhaka were linked to Suleiman, this is the first time such a claim has come to light. Musa also told investigators that Suleiman who had asked him to carry out ‘lone wolf’ attacks on foreigners in India travelled to Kolkata two days after the professor’s murder and stayed at a hotel and was accompanied by another yet to be identified person associated with the jihadi outfit and IS.Agencies are trying to ascertain whether the person staying with Suleiman was Abu Ibrahim Al-Hanif alias Tamim Chowdhury, the emir (chief) of Islamic State (Bangladesh). Bangladesh has already expressed apprehension that Suleiman and Canadian-Bangladeshi Tamim could be hiding in India.Sources said Musa’s latest revelation gives credence to Bangladesh’s suspicion that Islamic State leaders associated with JMB used India as a “hideout”. The photographs and other details have already been shared by Bangladeshi authorities with their Indian counterparts.Top IB sources said according to Musa, the JMB leader works under a different name in Dhaka and was personally involved in the murder of the 61-year-old professor. The IS, through its media arm Amaq Agency, had claimed responsibility for the killing of the professor for “calling to atheism”.Suleiman and another JMB man associated with Islamic State met Musa in West Bengal. “They met me at Malda station. After that they went to Kolkata and stayed in a hotel there,” Musa is learnt to have disclosed. Musa’s revelations have given Indian investigators some food for thought as it appears that the Dhaka attack and Rajshahi killing masterminds were in India and possibly stayed for a while and planned attacks in India besides deciding on targets in Bangladesh.