Within less than 72 hours of the recent attack of Rohingya jihadist outfit Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) targeting the members of law enforcement agencies, on April 14, 2023, members of Bangladesh Police have once again come under armed attack.
According to reports, gunfight took place between members of Bangladesh Police and jihadists of Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) in Cox’s Bazar district’s Ukhia area at around 2 pm on April 14, 2023. At that time, a Rohingya pedestrian named Nur Haba was injured while a ARSA commander named Mohammed Hasim was neutralized. Two policemen were also critically injured. Later, police arrested a ARSA jihadist with weapons.
According to Armed Police Battalion (APBN) source, ARSA jihadist Mohammad Hashim was involved in extortion, drug trafficking and other types of criminal activities, while he is accused in several cases. He is son of Boshir Ahmed. Injured Rohingya pedestrian Nur Haba is the wife of Nurul Islam. Arrested ARSA jihadist Mohammed Sade q is the son of Nurul Hakim.
ARSA poses serious threat to Bangladesh
According to counterterrorism experts, ARSA uses a five-tier leadership structure to relay its order to the foot soldiers. Every Rohingya camp inside Bangladesh has at least 5-7 trained jihadists of this notorious group, some of whom are capable of making various types of explosives and IEDs. Typically, each of the Rohingya camps is under the command of a jimmadar or commander, who leads the ARSA team and runs fresh recruitments. Before Rohingyas fled Myanmar and got temporary shelter in Bangladesh, there were more than 250 jimmadars in Rakhine State who were directly under the commands of ARSA high-command. Some of the senior jimmadars in Maungdaw are also affiliated with the splinter insurgency called Tiger Group, which is noted for carrying out high-risk, high-value operations in targeted areas and objects.
According to information, ARSA is currently receiving fund from dozens of Rohingyas living in Saudi Arabia, Middle Eastern nations, Malaysia, Germany and India while its main funders are Pakistani spy agency Inter-Service Intelligence and notorious terror don Dawood Ibrahim’s infamous D-Company. Dawood Ibrahim uses ARSA in running transnational drug trafficking. There are currently 98 top funders of ARSA in Saudi Arabia, while many of them are employed in mosques and madrassas. One of the top aides of ARSA in Saudi Arabia is Abul Kalam Haidery, while its key operative in Malaysia is Maulvi Noman.
Where ARSA jihadists are getting trained?
Members of Rohingya jihadist outfit ARSA are receiving training in remote char areas, shrimp farms and forested hills in Bangladesh as well as northeastern states in India and Nepal’s mountains. They also receive training in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir directly under the supervision of Pakistan Army. Training is divided in two sessions – armed and unarmed. Unarmed training involves martial arts, usually kung-fu and physical exercise involving calisthenics. Armed training ranges from using firearms to preparing explosives – improvised explosive devices to be more precise. The IEDs used by ARSA are made with urea, potassium chlorate, iron pipes as the container while ball bearings, marble and nails are used as shrapnel. The IEDs have an effective range of 45-90 meters.
Members of ARSA use sophisticated weapons such as M-16 rifles, AK-47, G3 and G4 assault rifles in addition to pistols and revolvers. They are trying to get snipper rifles as well as grenades. They also have built a stock of thousands of rounds of ammunition.
Seeking anonymity, a foreign intelligence source told this correspondent that on April 7, 2023, Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) leader Mahmudur Rahman spoke to ARSA kingpin Ata Ullah Abu Ammar Al Jununi over phone and asked him to take preparations for “massive assault” on the members of ruling Awami League once schedule for the next general election is announced. Mahmudur Rahman told Jununi that BNP would grant citizenship to 1.20 million Rohingyas and provide them jobs and “earning sources”. When Jununi sought fund and weapons from Mahmudur Rahman, he said “you take preparations, fund will not be any issue”.
