The Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh was behind the 2016 Dhaka cafe attack

The Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), which was blamed for the terror attack at a cafe in Dhaka in 2016 in which 22 people including 17 foreigners were killed, has been declared as a banned terrorist organisation by the government, the Home Ministry said Friday.

In a notification, the home ministry said the outfit has committed and promoted acts of terrorism and has been engaged in radicalisation and recruitment of youths for terrorist activities in India.

Therefore, the Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh or Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen India or Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Hindustan and all its manifestations have been inserted in the First Schedule to the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, the notification said.

The listing under the First Schedule of the UAPA means the outfit is now a banned organisation in India, a home ministry official said.

Twenty-two people, including 17 foreigners, were killed in the attack at the Holey Artisan Bakery in Gulshan area of Bangladesh capital Dhaka on July 1, 2016. During a joint operation, police killed six of the attackers.

Six days later, terrorists attacked police guarding the largest Eid gathering in Bangladesh and killed three more people.

The Bangladesh Police had blamed terror group JMB for the two terror attacks.

Security agencies in India have also established the JMB's links with bomb blasts at Burdwan in West Bengal on October 2, 2014 and Bodh Gaya on January 19, 2018.

The Assam Police have also found involvement of JMB in five cases registered by them and a total of 56 accused belonging to JMB were arrested.

According to the home ministry notification, the JMB came into existence in 1998 with the objective of establishing an Caliphate through Jihad.

The JMB and its formations like Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen India or Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Hindustan and their manifestations have committed acts of terrorism, promoted acts of terrorism and have been engaged in radicalisation and recruitment of youths for terrorist activities in India.

The JMB was engaged in recruitment and raising funds for terrorist activities, procurement of explosives chemicals and assembling of Improvised Explosives Devices, it said.

Investigations have also revealed JMB's plan of making permanent bases within ten kilometers along the indo-Bangladesh border in several districts of West Bengal, Assam and Tripura and plans of spreading its network in South India with an overarching motive to establish Caliphate in the Indian subcontinent, the notification said.

"The central government believes that the Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh or Jamaat-ul Mujahideen India or Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Hindustan and all their manifestations are involved in terrorism as they have committed and participated in various acts of terrorism in India," it said.