21st anniv of 2005 serial blasts today

The nation will observe today (Monday) the 21st anniversary of the series of bomb blasts that killed two people and injured over 50 others across the country in 2005.

Two people were killed and over 50 others injured as the banned militant outfit Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) carried out synchronised bomb attacks at more than 500 locations in all districts except Munshiganj on August 17, 2005.

Various socio-cultural organisations and political parties have chalked out different programmes, including paying tributes to the victims and renewing calls to stamp out extremism from the country.

Twenty-one years after the synchronised bomb blasts, a troubling new pattern of explosive incidents has emerged across the country, raising questions about militant networks, intelligence gaps and public safety.

The threat today is not the JMB of 2005. The organisation that demonstrated its nationwide reach on August 17 that year was subsequently dismantled through arrests, trials and the execution of its top leaders. But recent investigations suggest that militant expertise and networks may have survived in smaller, more elusive forms, with law-enforcement agencies now pursuing what they describe as a suspected Neo-JMB network behind a series of recent bomb incidents and recoveries.

The latest developments have unfolded particularly rapidly in recent weeks. In Savar, police recovered pipe bombs and bomb-making materials after arresting Mohammad Arif alias Imran.

According to police, 159 cases were lodged in different parts of the country over the blasts.

Trial in 94 cases has already been completed, with 334 people sentenced to different terms of imprisonment, while trials in 55 cases against 386 JMB operatives were still under way, the sources said.

A total of 349 accused in the serial blasts were acquitted, it added.

Twenty-seven accused in the serial blasts were sentenced to death, and eight of them were hanged.

Of the 159 cases, 18 were filed in Dhaka city, eight with the Chattogram Metropolitan Police, four with the Rajshahi Metropolitan Police, three with the Khulna Metropolitan Police, 12 with the Barishal Metropolitan Police, 10 with the Sylhet Metropolitan Police, 23 in the Dhaka Range, 11 in the Chattogram Range, seven in the Rajshahi Range, 23 in the Khulna Range, seven in the Barishal Range, 16 in the Sylhet Range, eight in the Rangpur Range, six in the Mymensingh Range and three in the Railway Police Range.