Days after Islamic State (ISIS) claimed responsibility for deadly terror attacks in Sri Lanks, a poster that reads “Coming soon” in Bengali has suddenly come up. The widely circulated poster in Bengali has given rise to speculation that ISIS is ‘planning to strike’ either West Bengal or Bangladesh in near future.
Released on the pro-Islamic State channel on ‘Telegram’ on Thursday, intelligence agencies have confirmed the poster’s presence and that matter is under investigation. The poster, which reads “Shighroi Aschhe [coming soon], Inshallah…” includes the logo of Al-Mursalat group.
ISIS already has a strong presence in Bangladesh. A section of the local Bangladesh terrorist group Jamatul Mujahideen (New-JMB) is affiliated with ISIS Central.
JMB operatives are notorious for recruiting and creating hideouts in West Bengal and neighbouring states. Three years ago, JMB sleeper cells had erected recruitment posters urging the youth to join the terrorist organization across various districts of West Bengal.
Ariful Islam, a JMB terrorist, is one of the main accomplices of the 2018 Bodh Gaya blast. He was arrested from the Babughat area in Kolkata this February. An official has confirmed that JMB had indeed set up a module in Assam earlier. The arrested operative had revealed crucial details such as their training ground was operative in Chirang area of Lower Assam district.
An ISIS-JMB terrorist Mohammed Musiruddin a.k.a Musa who was arrested by West Bengal CID was further interrogated by the FBI last July. During the interrogation, he had revealed about his hideout in Tirupur district of Tamil Nadu and his links with Amjad Sheikh. Amjad Sheikh, also a member of JMB was arrested for 2014 Khagragarh twin blast case.
Agencies are taking these posters seriously since ISIS has claimed responsibility of serial blasts in Sri Lanka. ISIS admitted to ‘managing’ these blasts with the support of a local outfit known as Tawheed Jamaat.
Earlier, we had reported a similar incident from Himachal Pradesh where a temple in Solan district was defaced with “ISIS coming soon” written over its walls.
