Militant suspect Tanvir Kaderi, who was killed during a raid in Azimpur, was persuaded by slain army major (retd) Jahidul Islam to join “a jihad”, Tanvir's son told a Dhaka court.

Jahid had trained the Gulshan café and Sholakia attackers.

“After hijrat [migration] I came to know that Maj Jahid uncle first invited Abbu [father] for Jihad,” said 14-year-old Tahrim Kaderi in a statement made before a court on September 22 under section-164 of the CrPC.

The Daily Star obtained a copy of the statement.

He said his mother did not initially agree to the hijrat but she agreed to it later on and on one day “We went out of our Uttara home saying we would visit Malaysia”.

They, however, only moved to rented flats in Pallabi, then to one in Bashundhara, one in Rupnagar and in Azimpur in the capital. 

Tahrim, known in the “Neo JMB” as Russell, Anik, Muyaz and Ismail, also said that before the hijrat, all four of their family, his parents and his twin Asif Kaderi Adar, took oath at their Uttara home.

They placed hands on his father's hands and pledged that they would be loyal to this Caliph until any Kuffri [disbelief in Allah] touched him.

According to him, he and his twin brother, who is known in the organisation, as Abir are students of Class-VIII at Milestone School and College in Uttara.

Before they moved to Azimpur from Rupnagar, his father kept his twin brother at another unknown location so that none could know that he has a twin, said the 14-year-old.

He said his father had opened a business firm named As-Sabina. His mother had worked for a few NGOs. He said his father obtained master's degree from Dhaka College while his mother got hers from Dhaka University.  

“We were a very happy family,” said the boy in his statement.

Tanvir was so radicalised that he killed himself when police raided their home.

Tahrim was captured in the September 10 raid of the Azimpur flat. His mother Abidatul Fathima Asha, known in “Neo JMB” as Khadiza and two other female militant suspects -- Shaila Sharmin, wife of key militant suspect Nurul Islam Marzan and Ferdousi Afrin, wife of another suspect Basharuzzaman Chocolate -- were wounded.

Two girls, aged between six and one, were rescued from the flat.

Chocolate also used to reside there but was not there during the raid. Jebunnahar Shila, wife of “Neo JMB” military commander major (retd) Jahid also escaped arrest as she was not there during the raid.

In his confessional statement, Tahrim said he saw changes in his parents after they performed Hajj in 2014.

According to the boy, Jahid and Maynul Musa, with whom his father had a friendship for a long period of time, used to visit their Uttara home with their spouses and children.

He got introduced to Jahid and Musa through his father. Musa used to tutor them Mathematics, English and Science. Another man named Rashed Ryash used to visit the flat with Jahid.

“After Hajj Abbu dreamt one night that he is standing in a dessert with firearms,” the confessional statement reads. His father discussed the matter with a hujur “preacher” who asked his father not to disclose the matter to anyone.

Tahrim said when they moved to the Pallabi home, Musa and Ryash used to visit there. Ryash also got them introduced to Basharuzzaman Chocolate and Akifuzzaman, killed during a raid at Kalyanpur on July 26.

Musa, a bearded man aged around 38, used to give Tanvir “jihadi videos on Syria war”. They were also given copies of Dabiq magazines, some written in Bangla, to read.

Dabiq is the propaganda magazine of global terror outfit Islamic State.

CAFÉ ATTACKERS

In the statement, Tahrim said during Ramadan his father rented a flat in Bashundhara on the instruction of Ryash and Chocolate. They moved in at the beginning of the holy month. Eight to 10 days later, Chocolate brought in two people first and then three more.

The organisational names of the five were Saad, Mamun, Umar, Alif and Subho.

A few days later, Tamim Ahmed Chowdhury, the “Neo JMB” Gulshan café attack coordinator, a Canadian of Bangladesh descent, and Marzan went to that flat. The same day militant suspect Jahangir with his wife and two sons moved in along with Chocolate.

Jahangir is known as Rajib Gandhi and Adil in the “Neo JMB”, an offshoot of banned militant outfit Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh.

Tamim, Chocolate and Marzan came with arms in bags, the boy said in the statement.

The five -- Saad, Mamun, Omar, Alif and Subho -- used to live in a single room in the house with Tamim. They seldom came out of their room.

CAFÉ ATTACKERS' FAKE NAMES

He said after the Holey Artisan attack he came to know the real names of the five. Nibras used Saad, Rohan Imtiaz used Mamun, Khairul Islam Payel Badhan used Omar, Shafiul Islam Uzzal used Alif and Meer Sameh Mobaswer used Subho.

He said, “The day the operation was carried out at the Holey Artisan, the five with knapsacks on their back left the Bashundhara flat between 5:00pm and 5:30pm. Before they left they embraced us all,” he said.

Soon after they left, Tamim and Chocolate also left asking his father to move out as soon as possible, the boy said. Later, they went to their Pallabi house in a taxi where he saw his father very tensed.

“Abbu was saying it had been a long time but he was not getting any news.”

He said after Tamim was killed with two others in Narayanganj on August 27, Maj (retd) Jahid went to their Azimpur home and said a person who used to live with Tamim had left and tipped off police.