DHAKA, July 22 (Xinhua) -- Amid growing fears about hundreds of missing individuals including doctors, engineers and pilots turning up as terrorists, Bangladesh media outlets have also recently reported that an entire family from the capital city of Dhaka has now disappeared.
The family of five including pediatrician Khandaker Rokonuddin, 50, his wife Naima Akhter, 45, daughters Rezwana Rokon, 23, and Ramita Rokon, 15, and son-in-law Saad Qayes, 30, left Dhaka in October last year and made their way to an Islamic State-held territory in Syria, local reports stated.
Md Ashequr Rahman, who came to be known by the alias Jilani, a former student from Dhaka's Military Institute of Science and Technology student, went missing in February last year. His family in Dhaka later came to know that he too had joined the so-called Islamic State and was killed during a battle in Ayn Issa, in northern Syria.
Similarly, Nazibullah Ansari, a marine engineer, who went missing in January last year, posted a Facebook message to his brother saying, "Don't worry, I'm in Iraq for Jihad."
"I have gone off the grid," Tahmid Rahman Shafi told his mother after leaving Dhaka for Malaysia from where he went on to join IS in Syria. Shafi, once a singer, and his wife went to Malaysia last year under the false pretenses of taking their honeymoon.
He is one of the three Bangla-speaking youths who threatened more attacks on Bangladesh in a new video reportedly released by the Islamic State about a week after the country's first-ever hostage crisis on July 1.
As more and more news is released about the increasing numbers of young people reported missing and subsequently joining terrorist groups, at dinner tables, family gatherings, business meetings and even at tea stalls, people here are talking with mounting fear about the likelihood of more terror attacks.
A crescendo of malicious rumors are circulating about potential attacks possibly busy and crowded public areas like shopping malls and supermarkets.
In the wake of the two major terror attacks that occurred here, including the July 1 siege staged by militants who were missing for months in advance of the attack, local media have reported that 262 people have been reported missing and have been unaccounted for by family, friends and colleagues for an inordinate amount of time.
Such figures have rapidly seen concerns about potential terror attacks in the near-future escalate.
Bangladesh's elite anti-crime force Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) on Wednesday announced that at least 262 people across Bangladesh have been reported as missing. It published the list on Facebook around midnight and called on citizens to report the whereabouts of the missing.
The threat of terrorism is evident in the atmosphere of Bangladesh malls, smaller shop owners and shoppers alike, as is bring reported by news media outlets, as anonymous callers have placed numerous calls to such public places, threatening to launch further terror attacks in the metropolis.
Before the wounds of the July 1 deadly terror attack at a Spanish restaurant in Dhaka, that left 22 people, including 18 foreigners and two police officers dead, had even begun to heal, Bangladesh suffered a fresh blow on July 7 when terrorists attacked Muslims' Eid prayers.
At least four people were killed, including two police officers and one of the attackers, after several explosions and gunfire took place at the entrance of the country's largest Sholakia Eid prayer venue in Kishoreganj district, some 117 km northeast of Dhaka, on the morning of July 7.
Dhaka, however, has taken unprecedented security measures since the country's first-ever hostage crisis earlier this month and against this backdrop, Bangladesh as a nation has also further tightened its security protocols and counterterrorism measures.
Paramilitary Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) soldiers are now patrolling Dhaka's Gulshan and Baridhar areas alongside regular police officers and other law enforcement agencies.
Additional checkpoints have been set up in Dhaka's upscale areas of Gulshan, Banani and Baridhara.
Dozens of these checkpoints are dedicated solely to the entrances to Gulshan, where at a Spanish cafe, nine Italians, seven Japanese, two Bangladeshis, an Indian and a Bangladeshi-born U.S. citizen, were among the 20 people hacked to death by the attackers on July 1.
The gunmen also murdered two Bangladeshi police officers in the early hours of the attack.
Police personnel have also been routinely stoping and questioning individuals about the identities and destinations of people entering and leaving these areas, around the clock.
Numerous barricades have been erected on the streets leading to these areas and security in more evidence that security has been visibly strengthened, especially after the reports of the threat of an attack on Jamuna Future Park, the area's largest market, began circulating recently on social media.
Responsibility for the July 1 attack has been claimed by the so-called Islamic State militant group, an assertion rejected by the authorities. Six of the gunmen were killed while one was captured and detained alive, but later died in hospital.
Bangladeshi authorities have ruled out IS links to the deadly terror attack and once again blamed "homegrown" Islamist terrorists.
Beefed up security measures are also evident in and around Bangladesh Secretariat, the administrative hub of the government.
A number of checkpoints are now in place in Tejgaon, Dhaka's largest industrial hub, and the commercial districts of Motijheel and Dilkhusha.
Authorities of many schools have either decided to defer or not to open their schools after the nine-day Eid vacation, which ended on July 10, following the ongoing terror attack threats.
A police official requesting anonymity told Xinhua that the government had been gathering information on youths reported missing for some time, as investigations have revealed a trend of young people joining militant groups.
The five gunmen who attacked the upscale cafe in Dhaka on July 1 and killed 20 hostages had been missing for several months, prior to the attack the official said.
"We're deeply worried about the entire situation though seemingly there is foolproof' security all over the city," the official said.
"I've asked my family members to stay home unless they absolutely need to go outside for something urgent," he said.
The usually bustling areas of Gulshan, Banani and Baridhara, are now visibly less buy than usual and the restaurants and cafes in the region have been hit hard as their regular customers avoid them for fear of further attacks.
The most popular restaurants usually packed with both locals and foreigners were virtually empty on Friday, usually the busiest day of the week for watering holes and eateries in these upscale enclaves.
"Even local customers' numbers have dropped drastically. We haven't seen foreigners at all since the attack," said one manager of a restaurant in Gulshan, which used to be popular with both locals and foreigners.
"After all it's a fearful and scary situation for all of us. I hope we will all bounce back because Bangladesh has never tolerated terrorism, militancy and murder," the manager said.
