Another link in Bangladesh’s chain of attacks

MILITANCY in Bangladesh is becoming more complicated and deadly. This reality was highlighted once again on July 1, when Islamic State-linked militants stormed the Holey Artisan Bakery, in Gulshan, an upscale district in the Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka, killing 20 restaurant patrons and two senior police officers. After a nearly 12-hour standoff, Bangladeshi troops killed six attackers, freeing 13 hostages and detaining one suspect. The attack, the deadliest in Bangladesh this year, highlights the evolving transnational extremist threat that continues to plague the country and threaten its economy, despite its government’s efforts to quell it.

The men who conducted the attacks—all Bangladeshis in their late teens or early 20s—do not fit the prevailing perception of militants as poor, disaffected and uneducated. Most of them hailed from affluent families and studied at some of the country’s top private universities. In fact, one assailant was the son of a politician in Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League. Their wanton act of destruction was thus not driven by material deprivation, a motive often used to explain extremism among young men. The Islamic State claimed responsibility, even posting pictures of the hostage scene on its website to prove its involvement. Considering the jihadist group’s social media-based recruiting prowess, it is hardly surprising that it could attract young, educated and affluent recruits.