The operational commander of HuJI, Ilyas Kashmiri, was killed in a US drone strike in South Waziristan on 4 June 2011.[6] He was linked to the 13 February 2010 bombing of a German bakery in Pune. A statement was released soon after the attack which claimed to be from Kashmiri; it threatened other cities and major sporting events in India.[7] A local Taliban commander named Shah Sahib was named as Kashmiri's successor.[8]
In the 1990s, HuJI gave recruitment training near the hilly areas of Chittagong and Cox's Bazar.[11][12]
Later on, members of the organisation committed an attack on Shamsur Rahman, a Bangladeshi poet in January 1999.[13] The organisation claimed responsibility for the 2001 Ramna Batamul bombings, where 10 people were killed.[14] The organisation was also the prime suspect in a plot to assassinate the former Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina in the year 2000.[15] In October 2005, it was officially banned by the government of Bangladesh.[16] The group has been condemned by various Islamist groups such as the Hefazat-e-Islam Bangladesh.[17][18]
Activities in India
Government of India has declared and banned it as a terrorist organisation.[19]
In April 2006, the state police Special Task Force in India uncovered a plot by six HuJI terrorists, including the mastermind behind the 2006 Varanasi bombings, involving the destruction of two Hindu temples in the Indian city of Varanasi. Maps of their plans were recovered during their arrest. The organisation has claimed responsibility for blasts at the Delhi High Court which claimed the lives of 10 and injured around 60.[20]Vikar Ahmed, a member of an Islamist group, and connected to HuJI, has been accused of murdering police officers in Hyderabad. He is also a suspect in the Mecca Masjid bombing.[21]
14 people were killed and 94 people were injured in the bomb blast. Police have released two sketches of the suspects.[24][25][26] The organisation has also made threats to target other Indian cities.
On 6 August 2010, the United Nations designated Harakat-ul Jihad al-Islami as a foreign terror group and blacklisted its commander Ilyas Kashmiri. State Department counterterrorism coordinator Daniel Benjamin asserted that the actions taken demonstrated the global community's resolve to counter the group's threat. "The linkages between HUJI and Al-Qaeda are clear, and today's designations convey the operational relationship between these organizations," Benjamin said.[32][33]
Militant attacks claimed by or attributed to HuJI
Date
Country
Description
1999
Bangladesh
Failed attempt to assassinate the humanist poet Shamsur Rahman
Suicide bombing of the headquarters of the Andhra Pradesh Police's counter-terrorism Special Task Force. A Bangladeshi national, Mohatasin Bilal, had carried out the bombing
^ abcHussain, Zahid (2007). Frontline Pakistan: The Struggle with Militant Islam. Columbia University Press. p. 52. ISBN978-0-231-14224-3. The first Pakistani jihadist group emerged in 1980 ... By 2002, Pakistan had become home to 24 militant groups ... among them were LeT, JeM, Harakat-ul-Mujahideen (HuM) and Harkat-al-Jihad-al-Islami (HJI). All these paramilitary groups, originally from the same source, had similar motivations and goals ... HuM and HJI were both strongly linked with the Taliban.
^Hussain, Zahid (2007). Frontline Pakistan: The Struggle with Militant Islam. Columbia University Press. p. 71. ISBN978-0-231-14224-3. In 1984 Khalil, along with another militant leader Saifullah Akhtar, founded Harkat-al-Jihad-al-Islami (HJI) ... A few years later he broke away to form his own group, Harkat-ul-Ansar (HuA). By 1990, HuA had emerged as one of the most feared militant groups fighting in Kashmir.
^Hussain, Zahid (2007). Frontline Pakistan: The Struggle with Militant Islam. Columbia University Press. p. 72. ISBN978-0-231-14224-3. HuA was one of the groups on the [1997 list of terrorist organizations]. After being blacklisted by the US administration it resurfaced under a new banner, HuM.
