GUWAHATI, Oct 11 � Youths from Assam were trained in Burdhwan and Murshidabad by members of the Jamaat-ul Mujaheedin, Bangladesh (JMB), but till now it is not confirmed how many persons from Assam received such training. Moreover, the plans of the JMB in Assam are yet to be unearthed.
Highly placed sources in the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) told The Assam Tribune that the JMB�s links with Assam came to light only after the blast in Burdhwan in West Bengal. The wife of Shakeel, one of those killed in the blast, told the security agencies during questioning that some youths from Assam had gone to West Bengal for training and from that statement, the links in Assam could be unearthed.
Sources revealed that the madrassas in Burdhwan and Murshidabad, where the youths from Assam were trained by the JMB militants from Bangladesh, have also been identified and those are under the radar of the security agencies. It is a fact that efforts were made for radicalization of the youths taken from Assam, but it is yet to be ascertained whether they received any training in handling of weapons and explosives, sources admitted.
It may be mentioned here that Assam Police and security agencies have so far arrested six persons from Barpeta district for their alleged links with the JMB and their questioning is now on to unearth the gameplan of the Bangladesh-based outfit in Assam. MHA sources said that one Abdullah, who was among the six arrested, owns a cloth store and he used to visit Burdhwan regularly for business. It is believed that during one of those visits, he came into contact with the JMB members working in that area and that is how the links were established.
Sources said that the JMB was formed in Bangladesh in the late 1990s by one Ataur Rahman and the outfit came to limelight in 2001 following the recovery of arms and ammunition and documents relating to the outfit. The Government of Bangladesh imposed a ban on the outfit in 2005, but in the same year, the outfit managed to trigger off explosions in different parts of Bangladesh. A number of persons, including two High Court judges, were killed in the blasts.
Sources said that six top leaders of the JMB were arrested in a crackdown launched in Bangladesh in the later part of 2005 and four of them were given death penalty on charges of their involvement in the serial blasts. The outfit has been maintaining links with other jehadi groups, including the Harkat-ul-Jehadi Islami (HUJI). The outfit is fighting for creation of an Islamic state and as the present Government in Bangladesh is maintaining a tough stand against the outfit, it is aiming revenge.
Though the JMB members follow the ideals of the Taliban of Afghanistan, so far no Indian security agency has been able to establish links between the JMB and Al Qaeda, sources admitted.
