Bandarban Raid: Rab arrests training commander of Jama’atul Ansar

The Rapid Action Battalion have arrested nine members of a new militant group called Jama'atul Ansar Fil Hindal Sharqiya, including its training commander, in Bandarban Sadar upazila's Tonkaborti area.

Khandaker Al Moin, director of Rab's legal and media wing, said the militants were arrested along with arms and ammunition during a raid on Sunday.

Among the arrestees, Didar Hossain alias Chompai, 25, was the training commander of the militant group, said Moin while briefing reporters at the district council hall room yesterday.

The other arrestees are Al-Amin Sardar, 29, Sainu alias Huzaifa, 21, Tahiyad Chowdhury Pavel, 19, Md Lokman Miah, 23, Imran Hossain, 35, Amir Hossain, 21, Arifur Rahman, 28, and Shamim Miah, 24.

The seized arms and ammunition include six locally made firearms, a foreign made pistol and five bullets, two magazines, explosive substances and knives, he said.

According to the Rab official, Didar Hossain went to the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) in February 2021 to receive firearms training. For his outstanding performance, the outfit chief made him the training commander, he added.

When the law enforcers began a crackdown in the CHT in September last year, members of the militant outfit split into multiple small groups and took shelter in different neighbourhoods -- Saijampara, Munnuampara, Roangchari, Roninpara, Paikkhyongpara and Bastulangpara -- in Bandarban.

Replying to a question, the Rab official said the militants now don't think of the CHT as a safe haven because of regular raids by law enforcers. So far, 68 members of Jama'atul Ansar Fil Hindal Sharqiya and 17 members of CHT's separatist group Kuki-Chin National Front (KNF) have been arrested in the raids.

Drives against the militant and separatist groups will continue, he added.