Fakhrul met Osama bin Laden, Mullah Omar several times: CTTC

Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) claimed that Fakhrul Islam, a Harkat-ul-Jihad (Huji) member who was arrested, met al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and Mullah Omar in Afghanistan several times.

Additional Commissioner of DMP (CTTC) Asaduzzaman told the newsmen at the office of DMP's media and public relations department at Mintoo Road in the capital on Saturday.

Six members of Huji were arrested by CTTC on Friday from various places of the capital. The arrestees are Fakhrul Islam, 58, Saiful Islam, 24, Suruzzaman, 45, Hafez Abdullah Al Mamun, 23, Deen Islam, 25, and Mohammad Abdullah Al Mamun, 46.

Asaduzzaman said, “Arrestee Fakhrul Islam is an active member of Huji. In 1988, he worked as a guard at Tongi Tamirul Millat Madrasa in Gazipur. That year he went to Karachi of Pakistan where he met Bangladeshi origin Mufti Zakir Hossain who served as Al-Qaeda's military commander in Pakistan.”

“When Zakir invited Fakhrul to join militancy and he accepted it. Later, Fakhrul went to Afghanistan from Pakistan to take part in militancy training. Fakhrul learned to operate modern firearms - AK 47, LMG and rocket launcher. At that time, he met al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and Mullah Omar several times,” he continued.