Dhaka (AsiaNews) - A court in Dhaka (Bangladesh) have sentenced 10 Islamic extremists to death for a suicide bombing in 2005. Eight people were killed in the attack, including four lawyers, and 70 were injured. The prisoners are part of the fundamentalist group Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), banned by the government in the same year of the attack. Announced yesterday, the verdict has to be confirmed by the High Court of Bangladesh.
Founded in 1998, the JMB is a Muslim fundamentalist group that is inspired by the Taliban of Afghanistan and would like to turn Bangladesh into an Islamic state based on Sharia law. The government outlawed the movement in 2005, in reply militants have carried out a series of attacks across the country. The most serious is the attack carried out on November 29 at Gazipur Bar Association.
According to the South Asian Terrorist Portal (SATP), many members of the JMB are part of Islami Chhatra Shibir (ICS), student wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami, the Islamic party in opposition. In recent months, supporters of the Jamaat have caused numerous hartal (strikes), often resulting in violence, demonstrating the regained popularity of the Islamic party.
