Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05DHAKA4089
2005-08-17 11:58:00
SECRET
Embassy Dhaka
Cable title:  

AT LEAST 300 COORDINATED SMALL BLASTS ROCK

Tags:  PGOV PTER CASC BD 
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This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 03 DHAKA 004089 

SIPDIS

STATE FOR SA AND DS/IP AND DS/ITA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/17/2015
TAGS: PGOV PTER CASC BD
SUBJECT: AT LEAST 300 COORDINATED SMALL BLASTS ROCK
BANGLADESHS

Classified By: A/DCM D.C. McCullough, reasons para 1.4 b, d.

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 03 DHAKA 004089

SIPDIS

STATE FOR SA AND DS/IP AND DS/ITA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/17/2015
TAGS: PGOV PTER CASC BD
SUBJECT: AT LEAST 300 COORDINATED SMALL BLASTS ROCK
BANGLADESHS

Classified By: A/DCM D.C. McCullough, reasons para 1.4 b, d.


1. (S) Summary. Between 1100 and 1130 local, at least 300
small blasts rocked Dhaka and virtually every other
Bangladeshi city,injurying several dozen and killing two.
Apparently identical leaflets in the name of the banned
Jamaat ul-Mujahidin Bangladesh were recovered at the sites
demanding implementation of Islamic law, BDG rejection of
GWOT, and U.S./UK withdrawal from "Muslim lands." One of the
blasts, which sounded like a backfiring car, occurred near
the Chancery. There are no reports of American casualties.
The explosive devices did not have shrapnel, occurred as PM
Zia was arriving in China, and appear designed to maximize
BDG embarrassment. Security services have at least 11
suspects in custody, including one linked to the blast near
the Chancery. The spectacular, unprecedented coordinated
blasts are a forceful rebuke to BDG assertions that extremism
is absent from Bangladesh. See para 10 for action request.
End Summary.

The Blasts
--------------


2. (SBU) Between 1100 and 1130 local on August 17, at least
300 small explosions rocked Bangladesh, according to police,
media, BDG, and other sources. At least 100 persons may have
been injured, most not seriously, but there are at least two
fatalities. There are no reports of American casualties.
Property damage was slight or none.


3. (SBU) At least ten blasts occurred in Dhaka near the
government secretariat, ZIA airport, the National Press Club,
two court buildings, the Sheraton Hotel, Dhaka University, a
train station, and a footbridge over a busy road separating
the Chancery from the GSO compound. Embassy personnel who
heard at least two of the blasts describe them as akin to a
backfiring car and reported seeing leaflets floating in the
air afterwards. Multiple blasts near government offices,
colleges, markets, and bus terminals occurred in virtually
every Bangladeshi city, including Chittagong, Comilla, Cox's
Bazaar, Jessore, Rangamati, Kalgara, Habiganj, Sumaganj,
Khulna, Barisal, Rajshahi, Sylhet, and Gazipur.

The Leaflets
--------------


4. (SBU) Leaflets at the blast sites in Bangla and Arabic

demanded implementation of Islamic law and condemned U.S/UK
actions. They carried the name of Jamaat ul-Mujahidin
Bangladesh (JMB),which the BDG banned on February 23, 2005,
for its alleged involved in several bomb attacks on two NGO's
working to empower rural women. The leaflet charges that
Bangladesh is governed in an un-Islamic way, declares that
JMB has taken up arms to implement Islamic law, and appeals
to the BDG to "defy Bush and Blair and establish Islamic
rule. If you do not dare to do so, leave politics. The
people of this country under the leadership of scholars and
religious leaders will, God willing, establish the rule of
Allah in this country." It urged judges and security
personnel to join their cause.


5. (SBU) In an "Appeal to the Muslims of the World," it
states: "The biggest terror of today's world is George W.
Bush. He is attacking Muslim countries and imposing
anti-Islamic constitution. He wants to bring the whole world
under his dominance by implementing the non-Islamic theory of
the 'New World Order.' This seems like the new Pharaoh.
But, Allah's arm will not allow this to happen. Those who
have taken arms against the non-believers are being termed
terrorist. Therefore, we appeal to the Muslims of the world
to pressure their governments to establish the rule of Allah
by carrying out jihad. Boycott the non-islamic United
Nations and create a United Nations of the Muslims for
strengthening the Islamic Ummah."


6. (SBU) Under "Warning to the Non-Believers," it concludes:
"All oppressors, including Bush and Blair, are being warned,
leave immediately the occupied Muslim countries. Muslims of
the entire world have awakened. If you do not stop your
repression now, you will not be allowed to live safely
anywhere in the world. Anti-Islamic NGOs are being warned,
stop your anti-Islamic activities in Muslim countries, or
else you will be uprooted, God willing."
Suspects in Custody
--------------


7. (S) BDG security services have at least 11 suspects in
custody, including one tied to the blast near the Chancery.
On August 15, Embassy Surveillance Detection (SD) personnel
had spotted a young man acting suspiciously on the footbridge
who told accompanying Special Branch personnel that he was a
SSC graduate in 2000 (which would make him about 21 now) who
sells tea; the same man was seen fleeing the site moments
after the blast and was arrested at 1350 about nine blocks
away on a street with at least six Embassy residences. The
suspect, who gave police this time a different name, again
had with him his tea selling apparatus. A senior DGFI source
told PolFSN that initial interrogation of suspects indicated
their aim was to cause panic, and that the cell phone of one
the suspects is being analyzed. He expressed confidence that
investigators would solve the case, but doubt that JMB has
the reach or organization to be the actual architect of the
blasts.

Reaction
--------------


8. (C) At 0800 local, PM Zia and many of her senior ministers
departed for China. BNP leaders are meeting at 1600 to
condemn today's actions. After a brief afternoon
conversation, British High Commissioner Chowdhury described
Foreign Secretary Hemayetuddin as in a "state of denial"
about the significance of the blasts. Home Minister of State
Babar was the first BDG leader to meet the press, when he
said the blasts were an organized act to create panic and
that the perpetrators could strike again. He claimed that
security services had reports of possible acts of subversion
in mid-August, and that security was being boosted to manage
the situation.

Action Request
--------------


9. (SBU) We request that a senior Department official
telephone Foreign Minister Khan or Prime Minister Zia, both
of whom are in China until August 21, to express condolences,
underscore the global nature of the war on terrorism, and
offer to look at assisting the BDG's investigation of the
blasts. If Khan and Zia are unreachable, we suggest BNP SYG
and Local Government Minister Mannan Bhuyian, who is in
Dhaka. Department may also wish to double-track the message
through Bangladesh Ambassador Chowdhury.

Suggested Press Guidance
--------------


10. (U) Text follows:

We strongly condemn the bomb blasts that occurred throughout
Bangladesh the morning of August 17, and extend our
condolences to the families and friends of those who were
injured or lost their lives. The random nature of these
blasts underscores the savagery of terrorism and the global
dimensions of this terrible scourge for people from all
religions and all walks of life. We hope the Bangladesh
Government will succeed in bringing to justice the
perpetrators and organizers of this heinous crime.

End Text.

Comment
--------------


11. (C) The unprecedented, spectacularly choreographed set of
300 plus blasts in an apparently 30-minute timeframe is a
strong rebuke to BDG assertions that extremism is absent from
Bangladesh. Although the blasts were designed to intimidate
and embarrass the BDG, not inflict casualties, they represent
a new level of ambition and aggressiveness by Bangladesh's
relatively under-developed Islamist extremists. The strong
emphasis of JMB's leaflet on external issues is unusual, and
could signal a new degree of radicalization or else a
calculation to maximize the BDG's international discomfiture.
We note with concern the possibility voiced by two BDG
ministers, one privately to us, that there could be more
attacks. At this point, we are monitoring developments
closely to get a better picture of what happened today, and
reassess our Mission profile in several days (septel reports
EAC meeting).


12. (C) As for who did it, the conspiracy theorists are
already hard at work. A senior Jamaat Islami official blamed
the enemies of Bangladesh or Islam, while two BNP MPs said
the army did it to create conditions for a military take-over
or the Awami League did it to destabilize the BDG. Others
predictably have spotted an Indian hand.
If JMB were in fact responsible for the attacks, it would
represent a much greater degree of organization and focus
than previously associated with it. While we share the
DGFI's skepticism about JMB, an ATA blast course alumnus now
at Cox's Bazaar told us that the bomb debris in his area
reminded him of the bombs used against the NGO's linked to
JMB, and the leaflet does refer to un-Islamic activities by
NGO's.


12. (C) There is, however, one organization of
Islamist-oriented young men with a history of violence and
with a truly national reach--Chhatra Shibir, the unofficial
and sometimes out-of-control youth wing of Jamaat Islami.
CHAMMAS