Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06DHAKA5224
2006-08-17 09:41:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Dhaka
Cable title:  

ANNIVERSARY OF AUGUST 17 NATIONWIDE BLASTS

Tags:  PTER KISL PGOV PREL BG 
pdf how-to read a cable
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P 170941Z AUG 06
FM AMEMBASSY DHAKA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0843
INFO RUEHIL/AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD 1231
RUEHKT/AMEMBASSY KATHMANDU 8647
RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI 9274
RUEHLM/AMEMBASSY COLOMBO 7529
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 1502
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 0600
RUEHCI/AMCONSUL CALCUTTA
RHHMUNA/USCINCPAC HONOLULU HI
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 DHAKA 005224 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/17/2016
TAGS: PTER KISL PGOV PREL BG
SUBJECT: ANNIVERSARY OF AUGUST 17 NATIONWIDE BLASTS

Classified By: A/DCM D.C. McCullough, reason para 1.5 d.

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 DHAKA 005224

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/17/2016
TAGS: PTER KISL PGOV PREL BG
SUBJECT: ANNIVERSARY OF AUGUST 17 NATIONWIDE BLASTS

Classified By: A/DCM D.C. McCullough, reason para 1.5 d.


1. (C) One year after the nationwide blasts that rocked
Bangladesh, political parties of all hues are holding
commemorative rallies in Dhaka to condemn terrorism and
Jamaatul Mujahidin Bangladesh, the group charged with the
blasts and a subsequent wave of attacks. Some local media
called for the execution of JMB leaders already sentenced to
death for their role in the attacks, and some highlighted the
government's failure to identify JMB's presumed "godfathers."
See para 5 for statistics pertaining to the JMB
investigation. End Summary.


2. (SBU) On August 17, 2005, approximately 463 small
improvised explosive devices exploded almost simultaneously
in 63 of Bangladesh's 64 districts, killing two and injuring
about 20 persons. Thousands of leaflets in Bangla, English,
and Arabic found at the sites affirmed JMB's determination to
achieve a strict form of Sharia law and reject as
anti-Islamic democracy and other "Western" concepts. The
leaflets also castigated the U.S. for its Middle East
policies and its alleged persecution of Islam.


3. (SBU) After a nearly two-month hiatus, JMB on October 3
initiated a new wave of bombings and attacks that targeted
the legal community, killed approximately 30 persons,
including two judges, and wounded hundreds. The last and
bloodiest attack occurred on December 8 in Netrokona, the
home district of Home Minister Babar, and was apparently the
third attack to employ a suicide bomber, a new phenomenon for
Bangladesh.


4. (SBU) On August 17, 2006, the ruling Bangladesh
Nationalist Party, the opposition Awami League, and the
Islamist IOJ umbrella party were among those groups who
organized rallies in Dhaka condemning the JMB attacks and
terrorism. Some local media headlined the government's
failure to identify the JMB's presumed foreign or domestic
political "godfathers." On August 15, Home Minister of Babar
had told journalists, "Without proof, we cannot go for action
against the persons whose names have been reported to us."
Some newspapers echoed widespread Bangladesh calls for the

prompt execution of those JMB leaders who, rejecting the
legitimacy of a non-Sharia court, did not contest the charges
against and were subsequently convicted and sentenced to
death for their role in the attacks.


5. (C) After a slow start, the government achieved impressive
success against JMB. When officers of the new
Counter-terrorism Bureau of the Directorate General-Forces
Intelligence briefed Ambassador on the JMB investigation,
they provided the following statistics:

Caught
--------------

915 JMB members, including seven of seven from the senior
leadership council, four of the 11 zone commanders, 20 of the
37 district commanders, 75 of the 169 senior-level members,
and 800 of the 5800 general membership.

Court Cases
--------------

223 cases filed and 103 under investigation. In the four
cases already adjudicated, 29 defendants received the death
sentence, four received life terms, and one received ten
years.

Suicide Bomber Profile
--------------

A single male aged between 16-22 from the lower middle class
with a 10th grade education from a government or madrasa
school. Missions were voluntary and conducted away from
hometowns.

JMB Activist Profile
--------------

Ahle Hadith Muslim, 53 percent of whom were aged 20-29.
Thirty-nine percent were educated in primarily alia madrasas
(i.e., which follow government-approved curriculum),and 53
percent were educated in government schools. Sixty-seven
percent were employed, though this includes large shares for

DHAKA 00005224 002 OF 002


"agriculture" and "manual labor," and 24 percent were
students. Among the employed were Islamic teachers and
clerics (19 percent); various "professions" (from clerk to
engineer) accounted for 17 percent.

Note: Most of these numbers have been reported by local media
with slightly lower figures.


6. (C) Comment: One year after the August 17 blasts, the JMB
nightmare remains firmly embedded in Bangladeshi memories.
For the opposition, the JMB campaign of terror proved that
extremists, backed by ruling party elements, are getting
bolder and more violent. For the government, the absence of
any JMB attack in the past eight months, the capture of the
group's senior leadership, and JMB's near total popular
isolation underscore the country's inherently moderate
religious culture. While many Bangladeshis, including one
senior Jamaat Islami leader, do not believe that JMB is
finished, the government remains confident it has "broken the
back." One big issue is whether any JMB leaders will be
executed before the election in January; while execution
supposedly hinges on what could be a lengthy automatic
appeals process, today's acquittal of former president Ershad
on one of his pending corruption charges, on apparently
dubious legal grounds, shows that when properly motivated the
government can fashion judicial action to its political
liking. Widely-publicized pictures of the current quarters
of one JMB death row inmate in what appear to be a very
comfortable non-prison setting has fueled speculation that
senior JMB leaders could yet wiggle out of the hangman's
noose.
BUTENIS