#Operation_Twilight

On 28 March 2017, the Bangladesh Army officially drew the curtains on ‘Operation Twilight’ – the longest and most complex counter-terror (CT) operation in the country’s history. The five-day episode took place from 24-28 March in a 30-apartment residential building in Shibbari neighborhood in Sylhet city, northeastern Bangladesh.

Four militants – three male and one female – belonging to the ‘Neo Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen (Neo-JMB)’ faction were neutralized during the operation jointly conducted by the 1st Para Commando Battalion and 17th Infantry Division of the Bangladesh Army with assistance from the paramilitary and the police. 78 civilians were successfully rescued from the building without any casualties. However, six (including two police officers) lost their lives in a diversionary suicide blast close to the operation site.

The template of the operation, including the armed response accorded by the militants, is indicative of two things: a qualitative progression of Bangladesh's CT agenda; and an apparent evolution of the militant profile in the country. A closer look is imperative.

Tactical Restraint in a Difficult Situation

Operation Twilight was an unprecedented raid-and-rescue operation in itself, with respect to scope and design. Despite facing an extremely delicate scenario of heavy civilian presence in and around the operational area, the security forces managed to complete the operation without any civilian or troop casualties. This is notwithstanding the six people who died in a suicide attack on a crowd of onlookers standing near the target building.

Unlike in the previous raids, this time, the militants put up an aggressive response to the Bangladeshi security forces. The highly-trained militants had rigged the entire building with explosives, wore suicide vests, and were in possession of a vast cache of ammunition. This delayed the overall response time of the raid, which remained focused on avoiding a hostage situation and collateral damage.

It is notable that the core command of the operation was given to the army, and not the CT Police or the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) – two units that have been involved in CT operations since July 2016. This was done due to the heavy civilian presence in the building.