Busting of militants' den

The special team for counter terrorism and transnational crime must be complimented for yet another success in busting a terrorist den, this time in Bogra. The house, reportedly, was being used by religious extremists and apparently preparations were being made to carry out attacks inside the country. 

This is the latest of several such operations by the counter terror branch of the police which have helped to prevent the extremists from carrying out their plans of destruction. 

The Bogra success was to a large extent helped by the accidental detonation of an improvised explosive device. And this is where we want to flag a few points that we have done several times in the past. Firstly, these groups have great resilience to survive the repeated onslaught on them. They seem to have constant replacement in their ranks, and this is something that the government and the security agencies must devise strategies to stop. Mere force alone may not bring full success. 

Secondly, it is the urban setting that is their preferred area of operation and the extremists perpetrate violence in urban locales for the sake of publicity. As such, they will have to seek sanctuary in urban areas from which to operate. Most of the busting of militant dens, including the one on December 24 last year in Dhaka, validates our contention. And this calls for greater vamping up of our human intelligence ability and coordination of intelligence resources that will allow timely intelligence to anticipate these groups. We cannot slacken our guard.