Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05DHAKA1704
2005-04-11 09:42:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Dhaka
Cable title:  

Attacks in 2005 on "Un-Islamic" Targets

Tags:  PGOV PTER KISL BG 
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This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
UNCLAS DHAKA 001704 

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PTER KISL BG BG
SUBJECT: Attacks in 2005 on "Un-Islamic" Targets

Ref: Dhaka 0361

UNCLAS DHAKA 001704

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PTER KISL BG BG
SUBJECT: Attacks in 2005 on "Un-Islamic" Targets

Ref: Dhaka 0361


1. (SBU) Since 1999, there have been at least 18 unsolved
bombings against the political opposition, cultural events,
and other people and occasions viewed by Islamist extremists
as "un-Islamic" (reftel). In 2005, there has been a clear
broadening of such attacks.


2. (SBU) Media and other sources report the following
incidents:

-- In the early hours of January 10, a petrol bomb hurled at
a Jatra (cultural) show in Digpait in Jamalpur district
injured 10 people, including performers.

--On January 12, explosions at a drama festival at village
Chakpara in the northern district of Sherpur injured 10
people. Police arrested two suspects.

--On January 14, an explosion at a Jatra festival in the
northern Bogra district killed one person and injured about
40 others. The same night explosions at another Jatra show
in neighboring Natore district injured 10 members of the
audience. One of the injured persons later died.

--On January 20, three bombs at a Jatra show in Sharishabari
sub-district in Jamalpur district injured about 40 people,
including a female dancer.

--On January 27, unidentified persons hurled two bombs on
stage during a folk music session at Golmunda in the
Jaldhaka sub-district of Nilfamari district. One female
artist was injured.

--On February 10, unidentified people hurled two bombs at an
office of the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC)
NGO in Gaibandha district causing injuries to three BRAC
employees.

--On February 13, two persons died in an attack on the BRAC
office in Kalai sub-district in Jaipurhat.

--On February 14, four bombs went off at a Valentine's Day
function near the Teachers-Students Center at Dhaka
University, injuring about 40 people. Police recovered and
defused three more bombs from the spot.

--On February 15, four BRAC employees sustained injuries in
a bomb attack on their office in Porsha sub-district in
Naogon district.

--Also On February 15, three hand grenades were found in the
BRAC office in Rangpur.

--On February 16, two employees of the Grameen Bank branch
at Nabagram village in Ullapara sub-district of Siranjganj
district sustained injuries as unidentified people hurled
bombs. Grameen is a micro-credit pioneer famous for helping
mostly poor rural women.

--On February 27, a Molotov cocktail exploded near the
Grameen Bank office at Tahirpur in the Bagmara sub-district
of Rajshahi.

--On March 1, an office of CARITAS at Govidapur in Khansama
sub-district in Dinajpur district caught fire following the
explosion of two petrol bombs.

--On March 25, activists of Islami Chhatra Shibir (ICS),the
student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami, barred a cultural group in
Chittagong University from screening two films critical of
Islamic conservatism and made the organizers show instead
two commercial movies.


3. (SBU) Comment: On Februay 23, police arrested 17 alleged
Islamist leaders and banned two Islamist organizations in
connection with the attacks on BRAC, which may account for
the sharp falloff in attacks in March.

THOMAS