The news originally came from a reputable
Bangladeshi source aka
The Daily Star
32 LeT grenades let terror loose
Julfikar Ali Manik
Most of the 32 Arges grenades sent to Huji-Bangladesh by Pakistan-based militant outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) were used in at least seven major terror attacks in 2004-05.
Of the attacks, six targeted the leaders of the then opposition Awami League, and the other was on then British high commissioner Anwar Choudhury.
In carrying out the blasts, Harkatul Jihad al Islami had been aided by a powerful quarter, some of who were in state power.
Investigators unearthed these while trying to get to the source of the grenade used in the killing of AL leader and former finance minister SAMS Kibria.
They say their findings would help unravel the mystery behind other similar attacks.
"Any findings in the probe into a terror attack in the last decade have got to give clues to the other attacks, as it was the same group that used the same weapons to kill members of the same political party," says an official asking not to be named.
Investigation sources say 21 grenades of the consignment from LeT were used in seven attacks between May 2004 and December 2005.
Of those, 12 were dispatched to be used in the August 21 blasts and nine in six attacks in Sylhet region including Kibria killing.
Of the nine grenades for Sylhet, two were used in the attack on a rally of AL policymaker Suranjit Sengupta--one went off and the other was thrown into a water body by the fleeing Huji men.
AL leader and Sylhet Mayor Badruddin Ahmed Kamran came under attack twice. On one occasion, he narrowly escaped death and on the other, the grenade did not go off.
One each was used in the attacks on Kibria, Anwar Choudhury and incumbent AL lawmaker Syeda Jebunnessa Haque.
The investigators have yet to trace the remaining two of the nine.
The seven attacks killed 34 and injured over 400.
Twenty-four AL leaders and workers were killed and over 200 injured in the August 21 attack on Bangabandhu Avenue in the capital; five were killed and 70 injured in the attack on Kibria; one was killed and over 30 were injured in the attack on Suranjit; one was killed and over 30 were injured in the attack on the Sylhet mayor; at least eight were injured in the attack on Syeda Jebunnessa Haque; and three were killed and 70 injured in the attack on the Bangladesh-born British high commissioner at the shrine of Hazrat Shahjalal(RA).
The investigators say some other Arges grenades of the LeT cache have been recovered by law enforcement agencies from different places including Narsingdi and Satkhira.
Huji started using grenades in their attacks since 2004. Earlier, it used locally-made bombs.
The sources say the militant group's high command had decided to eliminate the top Awami League leaders, as it considered the party to be anti-Islam and pro-Indian.
Anwar Choudhury had been targeted, as he too was considered an enemy by Huji.
Several Huji men have been convicted in the Anwar Choudhury attack case. The outfit's chief Mufti Abdul Hannan, Sharif Shahedul Alam Bipul and Delwar Hossain alias Ripon were sentenced to death, while Hannan's brother Muhibullah alias Muhibur Rahman alias Ovi and Mufti Main Uddin alias Abu Zandal were awarded life imprisonment.
Hannan, Bipul, Ovi and Zandal were involved in the attack on Kibria and would be accused in the supplementary charge sheet, investigators say.
Trial of the case for the attack on Suranjit had started in Sunamganj, but a Sylhet court last year sent it for further investigation following a prayer from the prosecution.
Most of the grenade attack cases are now under investigation.
During the BNP-Jamaat alliance rule or even during the two-year caretaker government rule, investigations into the attacks could not detect the source of the grenades.
The probes were politicised during the BNP-Jamaat rule. Some of those did not progress for dillydallying tactics, while others were diverted to save the real culprits, says an investigator.
Following an application from the prosecution in 2009, the court ordered Criminal Investigation Department to go for further investigation to reveal the source of the grenades used in the August 21 attack.
The investigators say analysis of the grenade and other bomb attacks in last few years indicate that the organisations with secular beliefs had been the target.
