A rare insight on how and why Islamic State planned the Dhaka attack

In yet another major revelation on its Bangladesh operations, the Islamic State (ISIS) has acknowledged that Canadian resident Tamim Chowdhury -- the mastermind behind the Dhaka attack-- is a member of the militant extremist group. Tamim who was killed by the Bangladesh security forces in August is referred as the 'former head of military and covert operations.’

On Tuesday evening, the IS released its multi-lingual magazine 'Rumiyah’ featuring an exclusive article by Abu Dujanah al Bengali aka Tamim Chowdhary titled `the Shuhada (martyrs) of Gulshan Attack.’’  The article provides a rare insight into the mindset of the planner of the attack from selecting the target to the day when it would be conducted. Not just, each aspect of the planning is further corroborated with a theological reasoning, that Tamim supplements by quoting passages from Quran and Hadees.

This is the third such release of article/video by the IS on the Dhaka attack planned by Tamim and carried out by five young affluent Bangladeshi boys at the Holey Cafe in the diplomatic enclave of Gulshan in the capital city of Dhaka.

The attack in the holy month of Ramzan in July that killed over 20 people majorly foreign nationals had shocked Bangladesh- a Muslim majority country. In Tamim’s words the target--``well known for being frequented by the citizens of Crusader countries and other kafir nations-- was deliberately chosen and so was the day to reap rewards. ``The night of the 27th of Ramadan was chosen because of the huge rewards that it could potentially bring to the mujahid brothers, as it may possibly be Laylat al-Qadr the greatest night of the year.’’

Along with Dhaka, the IS claimed attacks in Baghdad (Iraq), Nice (France), Orlando (USA) and Medina (Saudi Arab) making it the most violent and bloody Ramzan in recent years.

On Friday evening of July 1, when most of the Bangladeshi nationals were breaking their Ramzan fast, five boys trained by Tamim entered the Holey Cafe. Carrying sharp machettes in their hands, they went from one table to another seperating the Muslim diners from the non-Muslim.  They asked them ``the claimants of Islam very basic religious questions whose answers any Muslim youth or elderly would know. Those who proved their Islam were treated with respect and mercy and those who manifested their kufr were treated with harshness and severity,’’ Tamim writes. The dead included nationals from US, Italy, Japan and India.

Hostages and witnesses at the Holey Cafe who survived the massacre have narrated how the attackers asked them questions on Islam and told them to recite passages from Quran. Those who did, were allowed to leave.
Eighteen year old Tarishi Jain, the Indian college student was one of the diners in the cafe that day along with her friends Abinta Kabir, 19, and Faraaz Ayaaz Hossain, 20. The attackers gave Faraaz the option to leave as he disclosed his religion as Islam. But the two girls dressed in `western clothes’ were directed to stay back. Faraaz refused to leave the side of his friends and all three were brutally killed.

dna earlier reported that Canadian resident Tamim was trained in Syria and returned to his native birth place in 2013. He organised and set-up a jihadi network taking help from the existing local Jamatul Mujaheedin Bangladesh group and recruiting rich, young students from social media platforms. These youth were imparted religious and physical training before they were unleashed as jihadis targeting ``expats, tourists, diplomats, garment buyers, missionaries, sports teams, and anyone else from the Crusader citizens to be found in Bengal.’’

The radicalisation of these boys who were studying in elite English institutions and went missing at different intervals is laid bare in the article as Tamim describes each of the five Dhaka attackers. Trained as inghimasi--suicide fighters who enter the battle with no intention to return alive-- the attackers belonged from rich, moderately secular Muslim families.  

Abu Rahiq al-Bengali identified as Rohan Ibne Imtiaz, was named the leader of the pack to attack the Holey cafe. Rohan is the son of a member of the ruling Awami League, SM Imtiaz Khan Babul, a leader of the party's Dhaka city chapter and Bangladesh Olympic Association's deputy secretary general. In a footnote below Rohan’s description, is an anecdote shared by the editor. After failing to travel to Syria, Rohan had enrolled for jihad at home. So steeped was he in the ideology of IS, that he broke ties with his family and declared his father a `disbeliever.’ He once asked his leader to allow him to go assassinate his own father, saying, “I know one person who should be targeted, my taghut father. If you give me permission, I will finish him.”