Staff Reporter :Members of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) on Thursday arrested 12 militants including, Mufti Mainul Islam, Bangladesh Chief Coordinator of the Al-Qaeda in Indian Sub-continent (AQIS), from different parts of the city. Huge stash of explosives, bomb-making materials and knives were also recovered from their possession. The militants gathered bomb making materials to destabilize across the country, Mufti Mahmud Khan, Director of RAB legal and media wing said. The arrested men have been identified as Advisor of AQIS Maulana Zafor Amin, MD Saidul Islam, Md Mosharraf Hossain, Abdur Rahman Bepari, Al Amin, Muzahidul Islam, Ashraful Islam, Rabiul Islam, Habib, Shahidul Islam, and Altab Hossain. “They were planning to stage sabotage throughout the country,” Mufti Mahmud Khan later said in a press briefing. “They were plotting to break Dhaka jail and bring out their top leader Maulana Main Uddin.”Mufti Mahmud said in the press briefing that the militants were working to establish an Islamic State comprising Myanmar, Bangladesh, West Bengal and some other regions. As part of the plan, they have started their work in Bangladesh. They have hired many houses in the city and spread their activities all over the country. They were working to execute the plan after Eid.After the murder of writer Avijit Roy earlier this year, the Al-Qaeda in Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) said to have released a video claiming responsibility of the killing.In September last year, al-Qaeda launched a new branch to “wage jihad” in South Asia to invigorate movement for Islamic State. Al-Qaeda Chief Ayman al-Zawahiri then said in a video message that the new chapter would take their fight to Myanmar, Bangladesh and India.On May 3, Al-Qaeda Indian Subcontinent leader Asim Umar in video message claimed responsibility of killing bloggers Avijit Roy, Oyasiqur Rahman Babu, Rajeeb Haider and Rajshahi University teacher AKM Shafiul Islam.
