NEW DELHI: The series of bomb blasts in Bangladesh this past week have confirmed the suspicion of the intelligences agencies here that the country has become a hotbed for terrorist activities. In the run-up to the Independence Day celebrations this year the Delhi police were specifically told to be wary of intruders from the Indo-Bangladesh border.

The Crime Branch of the Delhi police learnt about the nexus between militant outfits and the underworld dons in Bangladesh during their probe into the American Center attack case in Kolkata in 2002. It came to light that the attack was a joint operation of the Aftab Ansari gang and the terrorist outfits Harkat-ul-Jehad-e-Islami (HUJI) and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).

The foundation of this pact was laid at Tihar Central Jail here where top militants like Maulana Masood Azhar, Omar Sheikh (Jaish-e-Mohammad), Mustaq Ahmed Zargar, Tahir, Akhtar Hussain, Asif Raza Khan (Hijbul Mujahideen) and Aftab Ansari were lodged between 1994 and 1999. Bangladesh was to be used as a transit place by the module.

Meanwhile, the Delhi-bound IC-814 flight from Kathmandu was hijacked and the Indian Government had to release Maulana Masood, Omar Sheikh and Zargar. Omar then joined HUJI and along with Asif, Aftab and others started planning for the release of the HUJI founder, Haji Nasrullah Langriyal, then lodged in Jodhpur Jail, and Abdul Rahim and Amir from Tihar Jail.

Asif, who was also linked with Islami Inqalabi-e-Mahaz, had by then visited Bangladesh at least twice, during which he developed links with Islami Chhatra Shibir and some other outfits. Maulana Masood's brothers, Abdul Rauf and Ibrahim Athar, were then operating from Bangladesh, while one Hafiz Sayed, the brother of a Pakistan-based top militant, Taimoor, was running a training camp there, a senior officer said.

A few months after his release on bail, Aftab went to Pakistan on a forged passport where he held meetings with the top HUJI commanders, Mufti Kifayatullah, Javed Waraich, Mehboob and Omar, and at their instance, asked Asif and his brother Amir to help a HUJI militant, Arshad Khan, to create a base in India. The LeT commander, Azam Cheema, also got involved.

In November 2000, Asif went to Pakistan via Bangladesh, while Aftab headed for Dubai from Bangladesh posing as "Farhan Malik". His passport was arranged by a Bangladeshi conduit, Jalladuddin Rana.

While their operation was in its initial phase, Asif, Arshad and their woman accomplice were arrested by the Crime Branch on Tughlak Road in October 2001. After two months, Asif tried to escape from the custody of the Rajkot police and was gunned down. Subsequently, his brother, Amir, fled to Dubai.

The Aftab group, LeT and HUJI militants, under the banner of Asif Raza Commando Force, then attacked the American Center to avenge Asif's killing. Just a day earlier, Aftab had flown to Dubai from Pakistan but was arrested at the airport. Meanwhile, Arshad's interrogation, led to the killing of two LeT men, Saleem and Idrish, at Hazari Bagh in Jharkhand by the Inter-State Cell of the Crime Branch.

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