Apart from the 21 August grenade attack, three other attempts were made on the life of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina by militant organisation, Harkatul Jihad and its affiliates.

Two attempts were made when she was head of government and the other one was during the caretaker rule of 2001.

From the charge sheet of the Aug 21 grenade attack it has come to light that one operation was codenamed “Sheikh Hasina will be offered light snacks.”

July 2000, Gopalganj

On 22 July, the then-Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was the chief guest at a poverty eradication programme at a school in Gopalganj.

Two days before the programme, a bomb packed with 76kg explosives was discovered nearby the venue, followed by another bomb with 80 kg explosive.

According to investigators of the Aug 21 grenade attack, it was the first attempt by HuJI,B.

Earlier in July, top HuJI,B leaders hatched the plan at Dhaka’s Mohammadpur and before finalising the plan to execute it in a second meeting days after at house in capital’s Khilgaon, according to the chargesheet filed over the grenade attack on Awami League rally.

May 2001, Khulna

HuJI,B’s plan to bomb the inauguration of the construction of the Rupsha Bridge by the then-Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on May 30 was foiled when 15 of its operators were arrested from two engine-run boats near the venue on May 27.

September 2001, Sylhet

The caretaker government was in power then. On Sept 25, Awami League chief Sheikh Hasina was supposed to visit the shrine of Shahjalal and the militants took their position around the area.

Fortunately, she did not go there or to another shrine where the militants also had members ready to strike.

Militants came to know that Hasina will hold a rally at the Sylhet Alia madrasa ground and they congregated at a home near the madrasa. However, due to the premature explosion of a bomb, two militants were killed and the plan was aborted.

August 2004, Dhaka

The grenade attack on the Awami League rally can be easily described as one biggest terror attacks in the history of Bangladesh.

The attack on Aug 21 that year was carried out on an anti-terrorism rally at Bangabandhu Avenue during the BNP-Jamaat’s regime.

The then-leader of the opposition Sheikh Hasina was the leading speaker at the rally. Investigations later revealed that she was the prime target.

She was stepping off the truck, which was being used as a dais when the assailants hurled the grenades into the rally. Investigators said 13 to 14 grenades were detonated on the day.

Among the 24 people killed in the blasts was Bangladesh Mohila Awami League president Ivy Rahman, wife of senior Awami League leader Zillur Rahman, who was later to be elected the country’s president. The attack left Sheikh Hasina with hearing problems.

According to investigators, 15 grenades were handed over to top HuJI,B leader Mufti Hannan’s associates Ashanullah Kajal and Mufti Moin alias Abu Jandal at the home of the then-deputy minister Abdus Salam Pintu on Aug 20.

Kajal and Jandal went to their leader Mufti Hannan’s home in Badda where the finalised the plan to execute the attack.

On Aug 21, 2004, at the orders of Mufti Hannan and Moulana Sayeed, 22 HuJI, B operatives went to Bangabandhu Avenue