Police have so far eliminated 12 operational leaders of the neo-JMB, while five others remain at large since the Gulshan Holey Artisan Café attack on July 1.
The Counter-Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit had identified 34 neo-JMB operatives who directed the operation at the uptown location in which 22 foreigners, among other locals, were slain.
The five operational commanders of Neo JMB, identified as Rajib Gandhi alias Jahangir alias Subas alias Adil, JMB kingpins Maj (sacked) Syed Mohammad Ziaul Haque, Basharuzzaman alias Abul Bashar alias Chocolate, Sohel Mahfuz alias Hatkata Mahfuz, and so-called "big brother" Junayed Hasan Khan, are still at large.
Neo-JMB leader Nurul Islam Marzan, the operational commander of July 1 Gulshan Holey Artisan Café attack and Saddam Hossain, an accused murderer of several persons, including Japanese national Kunio Hoshi, have been killed in 'shootout' with the police last week at Mohammadpur.
Sources in the CTTC of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police that had been investigating the case said they suspected that the neo-JMB leader and a Canadian expatriate Tamim Ahmed Chowdhury masterminded the attack at Gulshan.
A senior officer of the CTTC says the new outfit, mostly led by close relatives of the original outfit, adopted a revised philosophy for the outfit three years ago which was inclined to that of IS. Independent security analysts earlier said JMB or the neo-JMB were inclined to IS while another banned outfit called Ansarullah Bangla Team was ideologically linked to al-Qaeda.
The Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) arrested 10 suspected neo-JMB operatives from Dhaka. It said on Monday that the arrests were made during raids at the capital's Uttara and Kalabagan.
Officials said they belonged to the 'Tamim-Sarwar group' of the outfit, which has been blamed for several recent terror attacks, including the Gulshan cafe attack.
The arrested are Shariful Islam, 46, Mizanur Rahman, 43, Mohammad Ziaur Rahman, 31, Abu Sadat Mohammad Sultan Al Razi alias Liton, 41, Al Mizanur Rashid, 41, Jannatul Mahal alias Jinnah, 60, Mohammad Koushik Adnan Sobhan, 37, Meraz Ali, 30, Mufti Abdur Rahman Bin Ataullah, 37, and Shahriar Wazed Khan, 36.
Of the detainees, Shariful and Mizanur are former and incumbent principals of the Uttara Life School, which recently came under spotlight after it was revealed that the institution was a hot spot for militants allegedly involved in the terrorist attacks in the posh Gulshan eatery and Sholakia Eidgah on the Eid-ul-Fitr day last year.
RAB's additional Director General (operation) Col Anwar Latif Khan said the detainees were picked up from Kalabagan and Uttara areas on early Monday.
Col Anwar alleged that these 10 persons, along with the militants who frequented the school, were involved in attempts of spreading jihadist ideology among the students and their guardians.
A prominent militant leader, Moinul Islam, more commonly known as Musa, was a teacher of the school. Musa is yet to be arrested.
Two other slain militant leaders, Maj (Retd) Murad and Tanvir Quadri, used to frequent the school, according to sources.
Col Anwar, however, claimed that these 10 persons were not involved in any militant operation rather they were more involved in reconnaissance and recruitment efforts.
During a raid on October 8 last year, neo-JMB leader Sarwar Jahan died after falling from a five-storey building at Dhaka's Ashulia. According to RAB, Sarwar used the alias 'Shayekh Abu Ibrahim Al Hanif' and formed the neo-JMB.
He was a leader of the banned Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), from which the 'eo-JMB' originated.
On August 27, three persons, including Canadian-Bangladeshi Tamim Ahmed Chowdhury, were trapped in Narayanganj during a raid by the counterterrorism unit. The mastermind,including 12 plotters already killed shootout with the law enforcing agency men.
Tamim was one of the key operatives of neo-JMB and he was killed in action when he refused to surrender, police had said.
