In the face of repeated denial of the Islamic State’s presence in Bangladesh, the jihadist group has reportedly claimed responsibility for the attack at a police checkpost on the outskirts of Dhaka on Wednesday, leaving a police constable dead.
Hours into the sudden attack that also left another constable badly injured on the Dhaka-Tangail highway, the U.S.-based SITE (Search for International Terrorist Entities) intelligence group reported the IS’s claims.
The incident took place hardly two weeks after an assistant sub-inspector was stabbed to death at a police checkpoint in Dhaka’s Gabtoli.
According to the SITE, the IS had claimed responsibility for the murder of two foreigners and the attack on the Shia Muslim community during Ashura that left two dead in October. However, the government as well as the police have repeatedly asserted there is no organisational presence of IS in Bangladesh.
But the SITE stood by its reports and said they were based on firm grounds. The group has however not mentioned exactly where and how the IS made the claims.
Once a little-known research group, SITE surprised many when it published a video last year showing the murder of American journalist Steven Joel Sotloff even before the jihadists did.
According to U.K.-based The Independent newspaper , SITE is a for-profit U.S.-based consultancy group that monitors and tracks the activities of “international terrorists and the global jihadist network.”
The group has ties to both the U.S. government and commercial clients.