By IANS
Dhaka : Islamist militants claiming to belong to the banned Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) have threatened to set ablaze the headquarters of the country’s state-run oil and gas company Petrobangla in the heart of the national capital.
Security has been beefed up in and around the office after the militants sent a letter to its chairman, Jalal Ahmed, The Daily Star reported Thursday.
The letter said JMB activists had already inspected the Petrobangla office and would go into action any time.
The newspaper did not mention the reason behind the threat, or whether any ransom had been sought by the JMB.
Assistant Manager (Security) of Petrobangla, Ruhul Amin, lodged a complaint with the police.
Police sub-inspector M.A. Mabud said they were probing whether the letter had been actually sent by the JMB or it was the act of someone with an enmity with the Petrobangla chief.
The threat came hours after three JMB militants were charged with carrying out serial bombings in four cinemas in Mymensingh in the country’s north, the newspaper pointed out.
Six of the outfit’s top brass were hanged in February after being convicted for the murder of two judges. The JMB has since regrouped under a new set of leaders at different levels and is expanding its network.
Media reports indicate that the government has taken this seriously and is busting JMB units and nabbing its leaders.
JMB’s name has cropped up also with regard to terror bombings in India, two of them in Hyderabad this year, a charge the Bangladesh government has denied as speculative.
JMB attracted international attention after its number two, Siddiqul Islam alias Bangla Bhai, carried out murders and extortion, targeting political opponents and religious minorities.
Convicted by court and refused presidential pardon, Bangla Bhai was one of the six militants hanged in February.