Plan for coordinated operation in Chattogram's Jungle Salimpur

Authorities are planning a coordinated operation in Jungle Salimpur in Sitakunda, Chattogram, following the killing of a Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) officer in an armed attack during an operation. However, no details have been disclosed on when or how it will begin.

The funeral of RAB deputy assistant director (naib subedar) Motaleb Hossain Bhuiyan, who was killed during Monday’s operation, was held in front of the RAB-7 office in Patenga, Chattogram on Tuesday afternoon. Later at night, his body was taken to his home in Cumilla Sadar for burial.

Police said that at least nine injury marks caused by beating were found on Motaleb Hossain’s body in the inquest report. Preparations are underway to file a case at the police station. No arrests have been made yet. Family members have demanded a proper investigation and capital punishment for the terrorists involved.

After a RAB officer was killed and three others injured in the attack, Jungle Salimpur has once again come into the spotlight. Administrative officials had previously been attacked there multiple times. Although crackdowns were announced earlier, they were later halted.

Jungle Salimpur is on 3,100 acres of land on the northern side of the link road opposite Asian Women University, about two kilometers west of Bayezid Bostami in Chattogram city. Although administratively part of Sitakunda, the area is largely within the city. Hathazari Upazila lies to its east and Bayezid police station to its south.

Due to its remote hilly terrain, Jungle Salimpur has become a safe haven for goons and terrors. For four decades, thousands of illegal settlements have been built by cutting government-owned hills. Plot trading through hill-cutting is still ongoing. To sustain this business and illegal occupation, armed groups have been formed in the area. These terrorists maintain round-the-clock armed surveillance.

According to CCTV footage obtained by police, two RAB microbuses were chased by several individuals armed with sticks after entering Salimpur. At one point, the attackers vandalised the windows of both vehicles. During the attack, announcements were made over loudspeakers instructing people to block the gate.

Another video shows several injured RAB members sitting inside a room, with bandages on their heads and various parts of their bodies. The floor of the room is soaked in blood. Police officers are seen assisting the injured RAB members into vehicles.

RAB-7 Chattogram Assistant Director (Media) ARM Mozzafar Hossain said that in the evening, 43 RAB members went on an operation in the Jungle Salimpur area of Salimpur Union under Sitakunda Upazila to arrest armed terrorists. Sensing the presence of RAB, 400–500 criminals attacked the RAB members after making announcements over loudspeakers.

RAB director general AKM Shahidur Rahman has said that the illegal strongholds in Salimpur would be demolished. He made the remarks while speaking to journalists after the funeral of slain RAB officer Motaleb at the RAB-7 office in Patenga yesterday afternoon.

“Jungle Salimpur has turned into a den of terrorists. We will eliminate armed terrorists through legal procedures very soon. We will tear down and completely destroy this hub of illegal activities,” he said.

Replying to queries about why RAB conducted the operation with a small force in such a high-risk area, the director general said, “We have formed an investigation commission. They will look into whether there were any shortcomings in our operation.”

Sources in the administration, RAB, and police said that it is not possible to conduct an operation there by a single force alone. Senior officials are in favour of a planned, coordinated operation involving the army, RAB, and police.

When asked, Chattogram divisional commissioner Md Ziauddin told Prothom Alo, “Discussions are underway regarding a coordinated operation in Jungle Salimpur. We are taking a firm stance.”

Chief adviser’s press secretary Shafiqul Alam also said that all forces would conduct a joint operation.

Responding to journalists at a press conference at the Foreign Service Academy in the capital on Tuesday, he said that all forces would unite in a coordinated operation and that everyone involved—those who carried out the acts and those who instigated them—would be arrested.

A canopy was set up in one corner of the front field at the RAB-7 office in Patenga, Chattogram yesterday afternoon. There, the body of RAB deputy assistant director–DAD (naib subedar) Md Motaleb Hossain Bhuiyan was being bathed for the final time.

Standing a short distance away and looking toward the canopy-covered area, his nine-year-old daughter, Sidratul Muntaha, was crying. Someone came and held her. Amid her sobs, one word kept repeating—“Abbu, Abbu.”

Unable to stop crying, the fifth-grade student said, “I’m calling my father, but my father isn’t responding. Why was my father killed?”

Motaleb spent more time on duty than with his family, something his wife, Shamsunnahar, had accepted because of the nature of his job.

She said, “My husband was a patriot. He could have escaped from the terrorists, but he didn’t. He fought them until the end.”

Shamsunnahar demanded capital punishment for the terrorists involved in her husband’s killing.