IN separate raids across Dhaka and its surrounding areas, 12 suspected militants were killed on October 8, 2016. Among the dead was Faridul Islam Akash, commander of the Neo JMB according to the Bangladesh Counter-Terrorism and Transnational Crime unit following the death of the Gulshan attack mastermind — Tamim Ahmed Chowdhury. We congratulate the law enforcers for successfully identifying the militants which shows much improvement in their human intelligence gathering capabilities. We commend them for successfully carrying out so many simultaneous raids on the same day.

Despite the success, law enforcers must be on their guard. And so must society in general. An important lesson to take from this is that militant groups are somehow still gaining fresh recruits; as evident from the fact that in the encounters where seven militants were killed, three had allegedly joined the ranks only recendy. How are they still recruiting even after being under pressure from the security forces and the awareness campaign? Law enforcers must be wary of this and realise that the only way to defeat this menace is to end the recruitment of new members. Society too has a major role to play in this.

Another aspect law enforcers should address is how these organisations are being funded. Weapons collected from the dead militants suggest that they are indeed receiving substantial assistance from somewhere. If the source of their support can be identified and neutralised, police can deal a substantial blow to their activities.

We call on everyone to remain vigilant against militancy which has no place in a civilised society and must be combated in all possible manners.