Police have recovered a time bomb and two bottles of petrol near the Lalon Shah Akhrabari in Kushtia which were planted to carry out sabotage during the annual congregation of Baul singers and Sufi followers.
The law enforcers found the items in a bag near the local police box around midnight on Sunday, the second day of the three-day program to commemorate the death anniversary of the mystic poet and philosopher.
A bomb disposal unit of the police from Dhaka reached Kushtia on Monday morning and diffused the bomb.
Security experts say Islamist militant groups linked to JMB or ISIS could be behind the sabotage attempt. Since the 2024 changeover, these groups have been regrouping, collecting funds, arms, and explosives, and providing training to youths. Police arrested a few militants in connection with the militant groups but have been reluctant to eliminate or neutralize them due to government patronization.
Hundreds of Sufi shrines have been destroyed, corpses dug out of graves and burned, and Sufi preachers killed in extremist attacks over the last two years. Some militant leaders also professed attacks on the Lalon Shah Akhrabari, terming his ideas un-Islamic. Many Baul singers were physically attacked by the extremists during this period.
Recently, police recovered time bombs, pressure cooker bombs and hand bombs from militant dens in Dhaka and several other districts. On the other hand, powerful bombs were exploded in Dhaka and Chapainawabganj.
Experts fear that the homegrown militants are working in collaboration with the like-minded groups of Myanmar and Pakistan to destabilize Bangladesh and India’s northeastern states.