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Use of small arms, rather than bombs, is becoming more popular among extremists, including cadres of the Islamist outfit Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), RAB sources believe.
The elite force's assumption is based on the recovered arms and information from the recently arrested JMB members.
Documents on small arms training were found in the possession of recently arrested Nurunnahar Himu, 25, second wife of JMB chief Maulana Saidur Rahman.
Director of RAB intelligence wing Lt Gen Ziaul Hassan on Monday told bdnews24.com, "We guess, they're now depending on small arms. This is a new trend."
He said the scattered terrorist group is now trying to earn money through isolated terror acts as they are moving away from their ideological moorings with the decline of their organisational strength.
JMB members are now resorting to use of small arms as
it does not require massive training on handling the weapon, he pointed out.
The extremist Islamist outfit came to the limelight after they carried out a series bomb blasts across the country on August 17, 2005.
Several explosive experts of the outlawed organisation have been arrested.
Another RAB official, on condition of anonymity, told bdnews24.com that JMB did not possess any large cache of arms, but they were trying to collect.
RAB sources, citing a three-month old statistics, said JMB now has two 9mm submachine guns, four to five India-made 9mm pistols, two to three 7.62mm pistols and two rifles.
But JMB lost the two rifles they had snatched from the police at Khetlal in Joypurhat, the RAB sources said.
RAB this year arrested two JMB men—Rashedullah alias Devid and Fazlur Rahman alias Asad—and recovered two pistols from their possession.
Shafqat Munir, an arms expert, told bdnews24.com that the terror organisations in the south Asia are using small arms for tactical reasons.
Munir is currently working for Singapore-based International Centre for Violence and Terrorism Research.
"They're selecting small and specific targets in spite of carrying out massive operations and using small arms. The terrorist attack in Mumbai last year is an example.
"JMB is also following that kind of strategy," Munir assumes.
The training manual
RAB held the wife of JMB chief Himu and his brother-in-law Mimi in a raid from a rented house at East Goran under Sabujbagh Police Station on November 1.
A good number of documents, letters and books were seized from their possession.
The documents, in Urdu and Farsi languages, contained details on using small arms and training to use them.
Firearms, ordinary, semi-automatic and automatic arms are described in the manual as light, medium and heavy arms. Details of bullets are also cited there.
Arms of all sorts are called as 'Chhaman', bullets are called 'Capsules' while bombs are called 'Meowa' (a fruit).
Moreover, the parts of a bullet also have names—Makhjuff (front part), Khol (middle part), and Tuzum (back part).
The manual also contains the attributes, description of different parts and operations of AK-47, SKS (Samozaryadnyj Karabin Simonova = Simonov Self-loading Carbine) and 7.62mm TT pistols.
Different parts of pistols and guns, drawn by hands, were in the manual.
Moreover, the manual has three chapters on cautions for arms, cautions in the training field and security for the arms. It also had directions on the prohibitions and necessary acts on the training fields.
Source: bdnews24.com
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