US embassy cable - 05DHAKA4089

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 03 DHAKA 004089 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR SA AND DS/IP AND DS/ITA 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/17/2015 
TAGS: PGOV, PTER, CASC, BD 
SUBJECT: AT LEAST 300 COORDINATED SMALL BLASTS ROCK 
BANGLADESHS 
 
Classified By: A/DCM D.C. McCullough, reasons para 1.4 b, d. 
 
1. (S) Summary.  Between 1100 and 1130 local, at least 300 
small blasts rocked Dhaka and virtually every other 
Bangladeshi city,injurying several dozen and killing two. 
Apparently identical leaflets in the name of the banned 
Jamaat ul-Mujahidin Bangladesh were recovered at the sites 
demanding implementation of Islamic law, BDG rejection of 
GWOT, and U.S./UK withdrawal from "Muslim lands."  One of the 
blasts, which sounded like a backfiring car, occurred near 
the Chancery.  There are no reports of American casualties. 
The explosive devices did not have shrapnel, occurred as PM 
Zia was arriving in China, and appear designed to maximize 
BDG embarrassment.  Security services have at least 11 
suspects in custody, including one linked to the blast near 
the Chancery.  The spectacular, unprecedented coordinated 
blasts are a forceful rebuke to BDG assertions that extremism 
is absent from Bangladesh.  See para 10 for action request. 
End Summary. 
 
The Blasts 
---------- 
 
2. (SBU) Between 1100 and 1130 local on August 17, at least 
300 small explosions rocked Bangladesh, according to police, 
media, BDG, and other sources.  At least 100 persons may have 
been injured, most not seriously, but there are at least two 
fatalities.  There are no reports of American casualties. 
Property damage was slight or none. 
 
3. (SBU) At least ten blasts occurred in Dhaka near the 
government secretariat, ZIA airport, the National Press Club, 
two court buildings, the Sheraton Hotel, Dhaka University, a 
train station, and a footbridge over a busy road separating 
the Chancery from the GSO compound.  Embassy personnel who 
heard at least two of the blasts describe them as akin to a 
backfiring car and reported seeing leaflets floating in the 
air afterwards.  Multiple blasts near government offices, 
colleges, markets, and bus terminals occurred in virtually 
every Bangladeshi city, including Chittagong, Comilla, Cox's 
Bazaar, Jessore, Rangamati, Kalgara, Habiganj, Sumaganj, 
Khulna, Barisal, Rajshahi, Sylhet, and Gazipur. 
 
The Leaflets 
------------ 
 
4. (SBU) Leaflets at the blast sites in Bangla and Arabic 
demanded implementation of Islamic law and condemned U.S/UK 
actions.  They carried the name of Jamaat ul-Mujahidin 
Bangladesh (JMB), which the BDG banned on February 23, 2005, 
for its alleged involved in several bomb attacks on two NGO's 
working to empower rural women.  The leaflet charges that 
Bangladesh is governed in an un-Islamic way, declares that 
JMB has taken up arms to implement Islamic law, and appeals 
to the BDG to "defy Bush and Blair and establish Islamic 
rule.  If you do not dare to do so, leave politics.  The 
people of this country under the leadership of scholars and 
religious leaders will, God willing, establish the rule of 
Allah in this country."  It urged judges and security 
personnel to join their cause. 
 
5. (SBU) In an "Appeal to the Muslims of the World," it 
states: "The biggest terror of today's world is George W. 
Bush.  He is attacking Muslim countries and imposing 
anti-Islamic constitution.  He wants to bring the whole world 
under his dominance by implementing the non-Islamic theory of 
the 'New World Order.'  This seems like the new Pharaoh. 
But, Allah's arm will not allow this to happen.  Those who 
have taken arms against the non-believers are being termed 
terrorist.  Therefore, we appeal to the Muslims of the world 
to pressure their governments to establish the rule of Allah 
by carrying out jihad.  Boycott the non-islamic United 
Nations and create a United Nations of the Muslims for 
strengthening the Islamic Ummah." 
 
6. (SBU) Under "Warning to the Non-Believers," it concludes: 
"All oppressors, including Bush and Blair, are being warned, 
leave immediately the occupied Muslim countries.  Muslims of 
the entire world have awakened.  If you do not stop your 
repression now, you will not be allowed to live safely 
anywhere in the world.  Anti-Islamic NGOs are being warned, 
stop your anti-Islamic activities in Muslim countries, or 
else you will be uprooted, God willing." 
Suspects in Custody 
------------------- 
 
7. (S) BDG security services have at least 11 suspects in 
custody, including one tied to the blast near the Chancery. 
On August 15, Embassy Surveillance Detection (SD) personnel 
had spotted a young man acting suspiciously on the footbridge 
who told accompanying Special Branch personnel that he was a 
SSC graduate in 2000 (which would make him about 21 now) who 
sells tea; the same man was seen fleeing the site moments 
after the blast and was arrested at 1350 about nine blocks 
away on a street with at least six Embassy residences.  The 
suspect, who gave police this time a different name, again 
had with him his tea selling apparatus.  A senior DGFI source 
told PolFSN that initial interrogation of suspects indicated 
their aim was to cause panic, and that the cell phone of one 
the suspects is being analyzed.  He expressed confidence that 
investigators would solve the case, but doubt that JMB has 
the reach or organization to be the actual architect of the 
blasts. 
 
Reaction 
-------- 
 
8. (C) At 0800 local, PM Zia and many of her senior ministers 
departed for China.  BNP leaders are meeting at 1600 to 
condemn today's actions.  After a brief afternoon 
conversation, British High Commissioner Chowdhury described 
Foreign Secretary Hemayetuddin as in a "state of denial" 
about the significance of the blasts.  Home Minister of State 
Babar was the first BDG leader to meet the press, when he 
said the blasts were an organized act to create panic and 
that the perpetrators could strike again.  He claimed that 
security services had reports of possible acts of subversion 
in mid-August, and that security was being boosted to manage 
the situation. 
 
Action Request 
-------------- 
 
9. (SBU) We request that a senior Department official 
telephone Foreign Minister Khan or Prime Minister Zia, both 
of whom are in China until August 21, to express condolences, 
underscore the global nature of the war on terrorism, and 
offer to look at assisting the BDG's investigation of the 
blasts.  If Khan and Zia are unreachable, we suggest BNP SYG 
and Local Government Minister Mannan Bhuyian, who is in 
Dhaka.  Department may also wish to double-track the message 
through Bangladesh Ambassador Chowdhury. 
 
Suggested Press Guidance 
------------------------ 
 
10. (U) Text follows: 
 
We strongly condemn the bomb blasts that occurred throughout 
Bangladesh the morning of August 17, and extend our 
condolences to the families and friends of those who were 
injured or lost their lives.  The random nature of these 
blasts underscores the savagery of terrorism and the global 
dimensions of this terrible scourge for people from all 
religions and all walks of life.  We hope the Bangladesh 
Government will succeed in bringing to justice the 
perpetrators and organizers of this heinous crime. 
 
End Text. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
11. (C) The unprecedented, spectacularly choreographed set of 
300 plus blasts in an apparently 30-minute timeframe is a 
strong rebuke to BDG assertions that extremism is absent from 
Bangladesh.  Although the blasts were designed to intimidate 
and embarrass the BDG, not inflict casualties, they represent 
a new level of ambition and aggressiveness by Bangladesh's 
relatively under-developed Islamist extremists.  The strong 
emphasis of JMB's leaflet on external issues is unusual, and 
could signal a new degree of radicalization or else a 
calculation to maximize the BDG's international discomfiture. 
 We note with concern the possibility voiced by two BDG 
ministers, one privately to us, that there could be more 
attacks.  At this point, we are monitoring developments 
closely to get a better picture of what happened today, and 
reassess our Mission profile in several days (septel reports 
EAC meeting). 
 
12. (C) As for who did it, the conspiracy theorists are 
already hard at work.  A senior Jamaat Islami official blamed 
the enemies of Bangladesh or Islam, while two BNP MPs said 
the army did it to create conditions for a military take-over 
or the Awami League did it to destabilize the BDG.  Others 
predictably have spotted an Indian hand. 
If JMB were in fact responsible for the attacks, it would 
represent a much greater degree of organization and focus 
than previously associated with it.  While we share the 
DGFI's skepticism about JMB, an ATA blast course alumnus now 
at Cox's Bazaar told us that the bomb debris in his area 
reminded him of the bombs used against the NGO's linked to 
JMB, and the leaflet does refer to un-Islamic activities by 
NGO's. 
 
12. (C) There is, however, one organization of 
Islamist-oriented young men with a history of violence and 
with a truly national reach--Chhatra Shibir, the unofficial 
and sometimes out-of-control youth wing of Jamaat Islami. 
CHAMMAS