Cheosim Bom, a leading member of the KNF, arrested
Dhaka:
Bangladesh security agencies on Sunday arrested a senior commander of a tribal insurgent group believed to have links to Islamist terror groups, officials said, days after the group robbed a state-owned bank and kidnapped a banker in the southeastern mountains manager.
The elite Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), which consists of army, navy and air force personnel as well as police, said they arrested Cheosim Bom, the main organizer and coordinator of the Kukichin National Front (KNF).
“During a raid at his home on the outskirts of Bandarban town, we found him hiding in a locked locker,” RAB area commander Lieutenant Colonel HM Sajjad told reporters in Bandarban.
He described Cheosim Bom as the top coordinator of the KNF in Bandarban and a close aide of its main fugitive Nathan Bom, a graduate of Dhaka University’s fine arts department.
The development coincided with a visit to Bandarban by Bangladesh Army Chief Shafieddin Ahmed, who said the military-led crackdown against the KNF had begun to eliminate the group.
He said some KNF members were arrested and weapons were recovered from their possession.
The army chief said: “After being cornered last June, they (KNF) seemed willing to negotiate. Unfortunately, their commitment to peace was superficial, as evidenced by their continued involvement in criminal acts. “
Kya Shai Hla, chairman of the Bandarban Autonomous Region Mountain Council, took the initiative last year to persuade KNF members to return to normal life through peace negotiations.
But that process was disrupted when the group carried out two attacks on three branches of state-owned banks last week, snatching weapons from bank security guards and kidnapping a bank manager.
The manager was reportedly released through mediation three days later, but the KNF’s latest move prompted the tribal district council chairman to suspend peace talks.
Last year, KNF members killed three soldiers and wounded several others during a security crackdown in Bandarban.
Security officials say the KNF is an armed group composed mainly of members of the Christian-majority Bom tribe.
They said the group had earlier formed an alliance with a newly formed Islamist militant group, Jama’atul Ansar Fil Hindal Sharqiya, which had taken refuge in the mountains.
Officials say the KNF provides armed training to members of the Islamist group in exchange for money.
Bangladesh ended nearly two years of hill insurgency in 1997 when the government signed a peace agreement with the Parbatya Chattagram Jana Sanghati Samity (PCJSS), or JSS, which demanded regional autonomy.
The Bom tribe rarely participated in JSS armed campaigns.
