*thread* Very interesting morning at a Danish courtroom today, where 4 Danes are on trial on terror charges related to ISIS drone program. One witness presented today is a British-Bengali ISIS fighter: Abu Adam al-Britani alt. al-Bengali, real name: Ashraf Mahmud Islam. Ashraf Mahmud Islam aka Abu Adam is currently in a SDF prison in North Syria where Danish PET agents interviewed him for about three hours re: his ties with the Danish-Lebanese ISIS jihadi Abu Hani al-Lubnani, real name: Basil Hassan, who was a key member of the ISIS drone prg.

*A rape in Nayapara: thread*

On Monday (September 30), a 12-year-old Rohingya girl was raped by members of the Bangladesh Army at the Nayapara refugee camp in Teknaf. The rape took place around 19:30 as an army patrol of 10-11 soldiers entered Nayapara Camp 1, Block E and started terrorising camp residents. Two members of the patrol forced their way into the victim’s home (a shed divided into rooms, allotted to refugee families) and raped her.

Thread: New Bengali video (8 mins 9 secs) purportedly from ISIS in Bengal, released via Telegram on August 9/10. Feat. 4 guys, guy second from left (with glasses) is the speaker. Video is a call for attacks in Bangladesh. Video itself looks very strange esp. b/c of the props used. Toy rifles with scopes (!), wireless sets (ISIS in BD *never* used these) and suicide vests with dummy (!) bombs 💣 Someone is trying too much to impress🤷‍♂️

The IED attack against police in Dhaka yesterday is not at all a surprise. Though the CTTC chief claimed that "terrorist groups in Bangladesh do not have the capacity to carry out an organised attack," we *knew* something was coming. In fact I tweeted a warning on March 13. As @muktadirnewage quoted my tweet in a report for New Age on March 16: "... ISIS is trying to regroup and launch new attacks in Bangladesh, esp. attacks targeting security forces and government officials..."

newagebd.net/article/67543/…

Security czars in Bangladesh (the very ones who failed to stop Holey Artisan b/c of sheer incompetence and turf wars) are known for hyperbole and lies. CTTC chief Monirul Islam is no exception. But, his latest claims are mind-boggling. A thread.

thedailystar.net/backpage/news/… At a time when ISIS and AQIS are regrouping in Bangladesh (and we know this based on their renewed propaganda efforts), Monirul says jihadis do not have the capacity to carry out an organised attack. I wonder how he is going to walk back on that once there is an attack.

ISIS at-Tamkin has posted a (shortened) translation of an article by Shaikh Abu Muhammad al-Bengali which was published recently in Shabab al-Khilafah magazine. I think I have an idea who Abu Muhammad really is *but* will focus in this thread on his article. @siteintelgroup says the article was published in the sixth issue of the magazine but I have not seen the original version. I am relying on the Bengali translation published by at-Tamkin on March 11.

*A note on BCL*

I have been talking to survivors of the recent attacks in Dhaka (from Mirpur to Dhanmondi to Bashundhara) since yesterday and the evidence is just flooding in. There is overwhelming evidence of how BCL (student wing of ruling AL) took over the streets and terrorised, brutalised, bloodied everyone from school children to university students, with a clear aim of scaring the peaceful protesters off the streets.

CTTC in #Bangladesh has filed a chargesheet in relation to its investigation into the jihadi carnage at Holey Artisan Bakery in July 2016. Read on for facts that are *not* cited in the chargesheet. This, to record the truth about the July 1, 2016 attack. Fact # 1: The attack was carried out by the Bangladeshi affiliate of ISIS: Dawlatul Islam Bengal. That ISIS was behind the attack was proven very early on when Amaq started posting about the attack *and* when it posted pictures of dead hostages.

facebook.com/tasneem.khalil…

One of those WTH moments. When I first saw this photo this morning, my jaw dropped. One of the top al-Qaeda/Ansar al-Islam ideologues in #Bangladesh, visiting a #Rohingya refugee camp, in broad daylight 🤨 And posting about it on Facebook 🤪 So this is Maulana Muhammad Ishak Khan, an AQIS/Ansar leader whom I interviewed once and had correspondence with on and off. Khan is the Bengali translator and publisher of Anwar al-Awalaki's lectures. He is also a top lieutenant of Jasimuddin Rahmani.

Thread: interesting development in Bangla jihad front. Bangladesh police now saying Shahjahan Bacchu (publisher, freethinker, atheist) was killed by JMB (real, not the fake one). The kicker? Police has already executed the prime suspect. This was first reported by @labu8080 According to a report in BT, "the main plotter" of the assassination Abdur Rahman was arrested on June 24. He was killed by the police in a *gunfight* (euphemism for extrajudicial execution) last night (Wednesday, June 27).

I usually am very critical of #Bangladesh government and its security agencies. This time I will make an exception b/c how the GoB and BD police handled the jihadi threat and attack against Dr. Muhammed Zafar Iqbal is commendable. Credit must be given where credit is due. This case is a good example of how the jihadi threat against Bangladeshi intellectuals *should be* handled. GoB and its LEA must offer protection to all Bangladeshi intellectuals (bloggers, writers, freethinkers) under jihadi threat, esp. from AQIS/Ansar, ISIS.

New report from @crisisgroup on Bangladeshi jihadi groups. IMHO, this one does not live up to the standard we saw in previous ICG reports on Bangladesh. Here I note the bad and good.

crisisgroup.org/asia/south-asi… I will start with the most glaring mistake in the report. That is how it presents the ISIS position re: Rohingya. The report cites an April 2016 interview in Dabiq and claims: "a Bangladeshi ISIS commander [sounded] a rallying cry to fight for Rohingya rights" 🤦‍♂️