Incident Summary:
09/12/2000: At 6 pm, a gunman named Abul Kalam carried a briefcase, entered the office of Khgrachhari Deputy Commissioner Ashraful Makbul in Khagrachari, and took him hostage to issue a list of seven demands, including a salary raise and a ban on cigarette advertisements. The perpetrator gave Makbul a list of 34 local Civil and Military officials and forced him to telephone each of them to come to his office. He eventually seized 13 of these officials as they each entered Makbul's office. Elite security commandos were quickly dispatched to the area. The perpetrator also claimed he had planted explosives, including dynamite, around the office.
Overview
GTD ID:
200009120008
When:
2000-09-12
Country:
Bangladesh
Region:
South Asia
Province/administrative
region/u.s. state:
Chittagong
City:
Khagrachari
What
Attack Information
Type of Attack () |
Hostage Taking (Barricade Incident) |
Successful Attack? () |
Yes |
Target Information ()
Target Type: Government (General) |
Name of Entity |
Bangladesh Government |
Specific Description |
Deputy Commissioner's office of Khagrachhari District |
Nationality of Target |
Bangladesh |
Additional Information
Hostages |
Yes |
Number of Hostages |
13 |
US Hostages |
0 |
Days of Kidnapping |
1 |
Outcome |
Hostage(s) released by perpetrators |
Ransom |
No |
Property Damage |
No |
How
Weapon Information
Type |
Sub-type |
Firearms |
Handgun |
Explosives |
Dynamite/TNT |
Weapon Details |
The perpetrator had a revolver, and an unknown type of explosive attached to a switch or button in a briefcase. |
Additional Information
Suicide Attack? | No |
Part of Multiple Incident? | No |
Criterion 1 () |
Yes |
Criterion 2 () |
Yes |
Criterion 3 () |
Yes |
Doubt Terrorism Proper () |
No |
Additional Information |
One hostage who was sick was freed at 7:45 am on 09/13/2000. His briefcase also contained a bomb. At around 5:45 pm on 09/13/2000, he surrendered after being reassured by the local District Government that his demands would be met. He was arrested and kept in the Headquarters of the regional Army Brigade Office. The 13 hostages taken were: Khagrachari Deputy Commissioner Ashraful Makbul, the Khagrachari Additional Divisional Commissioner, the local Police Superintendent, 3 Army Majors, the Commander of the local Armed Police Battalion, 2 Magistrates, the local District Committee President of the Awami League (a political party), the local District Committee Secretary for the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, former District Council Chairman Samiran Dewan, and a journalist. |
Who
Perpetrator Group Information
Group Name |
Claimed Responsibility |
Unknown |
Yes (Confirmed: Unknown; Mode: Letter) |
Perpetrator Statistics
Number of Perpetrators |
1 |
Number of Captured Perpetrators |
1 |
Casualty Information
Total Number of Casualties |
0 Fatalities / 0 Injured |
Total Number of Fatalities |
0 |
Number of U.S. Fatalities |
0 |
Number of Perpetrator Fatalities |
0 |
Total Number of Injured |
0 |
Number of U.S. Injured |
0 |
Number of Perpetrators Injured |
0 |
Sources
Sources
"Bangladesh: Gunman Holds 14 Hostage in Tribal Hill Town," Agence France Presse, September 12, 2000 |
"Dhaka: Gunman Holds up Political Leaders, Military Officials in Khagrachhari," The Independent (Bangladesh), September 12, 2000. |
"Hostage Drama in Bangladesh Ends With Surrender of Hostage Taker," The Independent (Internet Version-WWW) (Bangladesh), September 13, 2000. |
Criteria
Criteria 1
The act must be aimed at attaining a political, economic, religious, or social goal. In terms of economic goals, the exclusive pursuit of profit does not satisfy this criterion. It must involve the pursuit of more profound, systemic economic change.
Criterion 2
There must be evidence of an intention to coerce, intimidate, or convey some other message to a larger audience (or audiences) than the immediate victims. It is the act taken as a totality that is considered, irrespective if every individual involved in carrying out the act was aware of this intention. As long as any of the planners or decision-makers behind the attack intended to coerce, intimidate or publicize, the intentionality criterion is met.
Criterion 3
The action must be outside the context of legitimate warfare activities. That is, the act must be outside the parameters permitted by international humanitarian law (particularly the prohibition against deliberately targeting civilians or non-combatants.
Doubt Terrorism Proper
The existence of a "Yes" for "Doubt Terrorism Proper?" records reservation, in the eyes of GTD analysts, that the incident in question is truly terrorism. Such uncertainty, however, was not deemed to be sufficient to disqualify the incident from inclusion into the GTD. Furthermore, such a determination of doubt is subsequently coded by GTD analysts as conforming to one of four possible alternative designations: 1) Insurgency/Guerilla Action; 2) Internecine Conflict Action; 3) Mass Murder; or 4) Purely Criminal Act.
Alternate Designation
The determination of "yes" for "Doubt Terrorism Proper" by GTD analysts is coded as conforming to one of four possible alternative designations: 1) Insurgency/Guerilla Action; 2) Internecine Conflict Action; 3) Mass Murder; or 4) Purely Criminal Act.
Successful Attack
Success of a terrorist strike is defined according to the tangible effects of the attack. For example, in a typical successful bombing, the bomb detonates and destroys property and/or kills individuals, whereas an unsuccessful bombing is one in which the bomb is discovered and defused or detonates early and kills the perpetrators. Success is not judged in terms of the larger goals of the perpetrators. For example, a bomb that exploded in a building would be counted as a success even if it did not, for example, succeed in bringing the building down or inducing government repression.
Type of Attack
This field captures the general method of attack and often reflects the broad class of tactics used. It consists of the following nine categories:
- Assassination
- Armed Assault
- Unarmed Assault
- Bombing/Explosion
- Hijacking
- Hostage taking (Barricade Incident)
- Hostage taking (Kidnapping)
- Facility / Infrastructure Attack
- Unknown
Target Information
This field captures the general type of target. It consists of the following 22 categories:
- Abortion Related
- Airports & Airlines
- Business
- Government (General)
- Government (Diplomatic)
- Educational Institution
- Food or Water Supply
- Journalists & Media
- Maritime (includes Ports and Maritime facilities)
- Military
- NGO
- Other
- Police
- Private Citizens & Property
- Religious Figures/Institutions
- Telecommunication
- Terrorists
- Tourists
- Transportation (other than aviation)
- Unknown
- Utilities
- Violent Political Parties