Ahead of the 11th parliamentary elections, the banned militant outfits Jamaat-ul Mujahideen Bangladesh and Ansarullah Bangla Team or ABT are reportedly trying to regroup with the aim of creating anarchy in the country.
The intelligence official, who was speaking on condition of anonymity, said JMB and ABT, based in Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) and outside the country, are trying to regroup themselves to create trouble before this year's general elections.
A section of political leaders belonging to radical groups are trying to contact the JMB and ABT leadership to create violence ahead of the national elections. Their probable use of Cyber war can be a crucial issue during the poll time period, sources said.
Anti-democratic forces, militant groups and religious fundamentalists may misuse the social media to operate cyber war, warned law enforcement agencies.
Senior officials of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) said militant groups may use social media and online platforms to obstruct the 11th parliamentary election, scheduled at the end of 2018.
International Crisis Group has warned that two groups, Jamaat-ul Mujahideen Bangladesh and Ansar Al Islam, dominate Bangladesh's jihadist landscape now. Attacks since 2013 have targeted secular activists, intellectuals and foreigners, as well as religious and sectarian minorities.
Jihadist militancy in Bangladesh began in the 1980s, when around 3,000 Bangladeshis reportedly joined anti-Soviet jihad in Afghanistan. A first generation of Bangladeshi militants were veterans of that war. In 1992, a new group, Harkat-ul Jihad al-Islami
Bangladesh (also referred to as Harkat-ul Jihad), led by three Afghanistan veterans, Mufti Abdur Rouf, Mowlana Abdus Salam and Mufti Abdul Hannan Sheikh, declared that Bangladesh should become an Islamic state.
"With elections approaching in December, politics could become even more toxic. The government's continued marginalisation of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its forcing underground opponents like Jamaat-e-Islami, risk sapping resources from efforts to disrupt jihadists," said the report.
The next parliamentary election is scheduled to be held by the end of this year. The BNP has been alleging that the government was trying to hold another "lopsided election" like the one held on January 5 in 2014. According to ICG, Bangladeshi jihadi landscape was now dominated by banned outfits JMB and ABT.
Salahuddin Salehin alias Jahidul Islam, was the chief of Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen India (JMI), and sacked army Maj Syed Ziaul Haque, the alleged military wing chief of banned militant outfit Ansar Al Islam or Ansarul Islam of Bangladesh (ABT) .
Law enforcement agencies, which claimed to have dismantled the terror network through at least 60 anti-militancy operations since the 2016 Holey Artisan terror attack in the capital, did not leave anything to chances.
On receipt of a confidential report from the Home Ministry, the police headquarters has already stepped up monitoring and taken preventive steps to thwart the "regrouping" attempt by radical groups.
Besides, the members of the law enforcement and intelligence agencies working to combat militancy could also be their target, it added.
Police officials claimed that they have weakened the militant outfits with the arrests in March.
About the formation of a single platform, a counterterrorism official said they got intelligence that the militant groups are trying to regroup and form a single platform but they are yet to get any concrete evidence in this regard.
