Siddique ul-Islam (), known popularly as Azizur Rahman ( in Arabic) or Bangla Bhai () (1970 – 30 March 2007), was a Bangladeshi Radical Extremist and terrorist. and the military commander of the Al Qaeda affiliated radical Islamist terrrorist organization Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh (), known in popular usage as the JMJB. Most active in the north-western section of Bangladesh around the Rajshahi region, Bangla Bhai gained nationwide and worldwide notoriety for bombings and other terrorist activities.
Biography
Bangla Bhai gave an interview to national and local journalists. This interview would be a significant source of information about his life. His father was Nazir Hossain Pramanik of Kannipara village in Gabtoli upazila in Bogra. He claimed to have graduated from Rajshahi University in 1995 with a master's in Bangla. The Daily Star reporter contacted the university to verify his claims. The university claimed there was no student named Azizur Rahman at the Bangla Department in 1995. When the Daily Star reported pointed out this contradiction Bangla Bhai replied: "I studied Bangla at Azizul Haq University College affiliated with Rajshahi University. Bangla Bhai remained private and guarded about his education and background. His senior officer in the organization Amir Maulana Abdur Rahman who was also present during the interview reported that Bangla Bhai studied at Tarafsartaj Senior Fazil Madrasa. Bangla Bhai said regarding his alias "I was a Bangla teacher at two top coaching centres in Dhaka. As my students did well in Bangla, the authorities of coaching centres called me Bangla Bhai, "he did not name the coaching centres or their exact locations. Bangla Bhai also denied certain reports that he was aligned with Bangladesh Chhatra League. "I supported it when I was in school. As a college student, I joined Islami Chhatra Shibir (an Islamist student organisation allied with Jamaat-e-Islami). When I finished my study in 1995, I quit Shibir because Jamaat accepted female leadership although it said it considered female leadership sacrilege."
Militant activity
- He started operations in the northern Rajshahi locale in 2004 by crusading against neighborhood crooks, purportedly with the assistance of the police and some administration authorities.
- Abdur Rahman and Bangla Bhai set up organisational bases and militant training camps in madrasas and in remote areas of the country, mostly in the dense forests and hilly areas. They translated their plan into action with the help of huge funds from foreign countries that were meant for building mosques and madrasas.
- August 2005, estimated 500 bombs were detonated in almost every district of Bangladesh except one within one hour. The explosions caused the death of three individuals and injured about 100 individuals.
- In mid-November 2005, two Judges were killed when a bomb was tossed at their vehicle in the town of Jhalalkati, 120 km (75 miles) south of the capital, Dhaka.
- 29 November 2005-Seven individuals, including the suspected suicide bomber, died in the attack on Gazipur. This was the first Suicide bomb attack in Bangladesh's History. In Chittagong, two police officers were slain the suspected bomber was injured and immobilized. At slightest 16 individuals, 13 of them police officers were injured in Chittagong notwithstanding those murdered.
Death
Bangla Bhai was given death sentences for the killings of two assistant judges in Jhalakathi. Along with 5 other militants, Bangla Bhai was executed by hanging on 30 March 2007.
Family
A Dhaka court on 10 August 2010 sentenced his wife (Fahima, pseudonym Farzana) and two JMB men (Salahuddin alias Saleheen and Asaduzzaman Chowdhury alias Panir) to 20 years' imprisonment each for having explosives. Judge Mohammad Rezaul Islam of the Speedy Trial Tribunal-4 passed on the sentence in vicinity of the convicts.