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Fugitive in Aug 21 grenade attack case held


Published : 23 Feb 2021 09:27 PM | Updated : 24 Feb 2021 12:44 AM

The anti-crime elite force Rapid Action Battalion (RAB)on Tuesday nabbed a fugitive convict in the deadly August 21 grenade attack case from Diabari area in the capital.

RAB Director General Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun confirmed it at a press briefing at RAB Media Center in the city on Tuesday.

The arrested terror was identified as Md Iqbal Hossain alias Iqbal alias Jahangir alias Selim. 

Iqbal, hailing from Jhenaidah, was a member of the banned militant outfit Harkat-ul-Jihad Bangladesh (HUJI).

A team of RAB arrested Iqbal from Diabari area around 3:00am, based on the information of National Security Intelligence (NSI).

The RAB boss sadi, “During his primary interrogation, the grenade attacker admitted that that he directly was involved in August 21 grenade attack.”

Iqbal hurled a grenade which was provided by banned militant organsiation HUJI chief Mufti Abdul Hannan.

After carrying out the gruesome attack, he returned to Jhenaidah. He remained absconding since then, the head of RAB added.

Iqbal was involved with the politics of Chhatra Dal in 1994 in Jhenaidah. He later joined HUJI in 2001. He met with Mufti Hannan in 2003 and left Bangladesh in 2008.

Iqbal was sent back from a foreign country where he was staying illegally at the end of the last year.

Iqbal was sentenced to life in prison by a Dhaka Speedy Trial Tribunal in the August 21 grenade attack case.

On October 2018, a Dhaka court sentenced 19 persons to death and 19 others to life imprisonment in connection with the case.

At least 24 people were killed and around 300 injured in the deadly attack on an anti-terrorism rally of Awami League on the capital's Bangabandhu Avenue on August 21 in 2004.

Sheikh Hasina, the then opposition leader in parliament, was the main target. However, she narrowly escaped the attack with an ear injury.

The terrorist attack was masterminded by some top brass leaders of BNP-Jamaat, it is learnt.