By IANS,
Dhaka : An Indian militant nabbed here has disclosed that two Pakistan-based Islamist militant groups supplied grenades that were used to attack a 2004 rally addressed by Bangladesh’s current Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, a media report said Saturday.
Maulana Mansur Ali, hiding in Bangladesh for the last 15 years, told interrogators here that militant outfit Asif Reza Commando Force (ARCF), which is based in Pakistani Kashmir and works with Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), supplied grenades to LeT’s Bangladesh chapter leader Moulana Tajuddin.
Twenty-three people, including senior leaders of Hasina’s Awami League, died and over 300 were injured in the attack that took place on Aug 21, 2004.
Hasina was also fired upon while being whisked away in a bullet-proof vehicle. She developed an eye and hearing impairment thereafter.
Mansur Ali is one of the three Indian militants caught hiding in Bangladesh and the security personnel are looking for more of their accomplices since last month’s breakthrough.
The investigators, however, did not reveal the Indian national’s name for the sake of investigation, the Daily Star reported.
Mansur Ali has doubled as coordinator for the LeT and ARCF in Bangladesh. He told the Detective Branch (DB) during interrogation that an ARCF leader, who is also from India, directly handed over the grenades to Maulana Tajuddin, who heads LeT Bangladesh.
Media reports have said that militants had links with key functionaries of the government (2001-06) headed by Begum Khaleda Zia.
Tajuddin, who is absconding, is the brother of Abdus Salam Pintu, a deputy minister in Zia’s government, now under detention for his links with militants’ bodies.
Having unearthed the missing link in the probe to get at the source of the grenades, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and the Chief Public Prosecutor Syed Rezaur Rahman June 25 submitted a prayer to a Dhaka court for further investigation into the 2004 attack.
“We’re expecting more important leads from Mansur on the suppliers of grenades used in the Aug 21 attack,” said a top detective on condition of anonymity.
Mansur Ali, who was living in Bangladesh for around 17 years with fake identity and serving as a madrasa teacher, also said most of the grenade throwers at the Awami League rally were Afghan war veterans having expertise in handling explosives.
The other detained LeT leader Mufti Obaidullah was also hiding in Bangladesh for 14 years assuming false identity and was serving as a madrasa teacher.
The police zeroed down on the two after arresting Abdur Rauf Daud Merchant, a fugitive from Indian law convicted for the killing of Bollywood music baron Gulshan Kumar.