Via Reuters:
Police in Bangladesh killed nine militants on Tuesday who were believed to have been plotting an attack similar to the one on a cafe on July 1 that killed 22 people, the national police chief said.
Police said the militants, holed up in a building in Kalyanpur on the outskirts of the capital, Dhaka, opened fire on officers as they tried to enter.
The militants, who shouted “Allahu akbar” or “God is greatest” as they battled police, were believed to be members of the banned group, Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), which has pledged allegiance to Islamic State.
“They were wearing black outfits, turbans and had backpacks … similar to the outfits the attackers in the cafe had,” police chief Shahidul Hoque told reporters at the scene after the militants were killed.
“They were plotting a major attack in the capital like that in the restaurant.”
One wounded militant was captured and another managed to escape, he added.
“The militant who was detained claimed they were Islamic State members, but we think they’re JMB,” Hoque said.
So not technically ISIS, but ISIS-adjacent. Gotcha.
ISIS took responsibility for the attack this group was trying to emulate, so even when they’re not involved, they are inspiring copycat killers.
While it is good news that an attack was thwarted, it’s still frightening to think of what is being plotted even as that was stopped. It’s high season for Islamic terrorists right now. Earlier today I was asked how many attacks there have been just since the weekend and I had to stop for a minute to try and remember them all.
While all of this is going on, Secretary of State John Kerry keeps trying to reassure us that ISIS is more or less contained and the area it occupies is shrinking.
As the Reuters article points out, one of these groups has a long reach:
While authorities blame the violence on domestic militants, security experts say the scale and sophistication of the cafe assault suggested links to a trans-national network.
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