The terror attacks on police in Dhaka’s Malibagh and Gulistan were a bid to gather funds by drawing attention as well as to intimidate law enforcers, says the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) chief Additional IGP Md Shafiqul Islam.
His remarks came on Thursday (May 30) while addressing a media call at the CID headquarters in Malibagh.
“Militants have been inactive for a long time due to the crackdown on militancy by law enforcement agencies,” he said referring to the anti-terror raids across the country following the 2016 Holey Artisan Bakery attack.
“In order to attract funding from donors, militant outfits need to be active. We believe this is why the Malibagh and Gulistan attacks were carried out,” he added.
The CID chief said that the attacks might have been an attempt to intimidate and demoralise the police so that they back away from the crackdown on militancy.
“We, however, will not be intimidated and will continue our efforts to nab militants,” he added.
On Sunday, May 26, a female assistant sub-inspector (ASI) of police and two others were injured by explosives hurled at a police vehicle at the Malibagh intersection in Dhaka.
A police patrol car was going to Ganabhaban to pick up female police officers, when an explosive was thrown at the back of the car.
Earlier, on April 30, two traffic police constables and one community traffic member were injured in a blast in Dhaka's Gulistan area,a few hours after two people were killed in a blast in a suspected militant den, also in Dhaka.
According to a statement of the Site Intelligence Group, the Islamic State claimed the attack.