Terrorist groups - home based:
Harakat ul-Jihad-i-Islami/Bangladesh (HUJI-B): aim(s): install an Islamic state in Bangladesh area(s) of operation: headquartered in Bangladesh and mostly active in the southeast; conducts occasional low-level bombing attacks against Bangladeshi officials and Westerners, especially US citizens; operations have waned in recent years due to aggressive counterterrorism measures; continues to train fighters and maintain a network of madrassas in Bangladesh; on 21 August 2004, operatives lobbed handgrenades at Sheikh HASINA during an anti-terrorism rally in Dhaka, where approximately 20,000 protesters attended a rally that HASINA's party, the Awami League, had organized; HASINA survived, but 24 Awami League leaders and workers were killed and over 300 people were injured; this was the HUJI-B's most lethal attack since its inception in 1992

Terrorist groups - foreign based:
al-Qa'ida (AQ): aim(s): overthrow the Bangladesh Government and, ultimately, establish a pan-Islamic caliphate under a strict Salafi Muslim interpretation of Sharia area(s) of operation: operates in collaboration with its al-Qa'ida in the Indian Subcontinent affiliate
al-Qa'ida in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS): aim(s): protect Muslims in Bangladesh from perceived injustices and, ultimately, establish an Islamic caliphate in the Indian subcontinent area(s) of operation: active throughout the country, targeting primarily Military personnel, US interests, and using machetes to attack university professors, bloggers, and others who oppose AQIS's ideology; spokesman Abdullah ASHRAF is based in Bangladesh
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL): aim(s): replace the Bangladesh Government with an Islamic state and implement ISIL's strict interpretation of Sharia; ISIL operates in Bangladesh under the name Islamic State in Bangladesh (ISB) area(s) of operation: operates primarily in Dhaka under Shaykh Abu Ibrahim al-HANAFI under the name Islamic State in Bangladesh; targets foreigners, foreign aid workers, university professors, and secular bloggers and students for assassination; conducted Bangladesh's deadliest terrorist attack on 1-2 July 2016 during a 12-hour standoff in Dhaka, when gunmen overran the Holey Artisan Bakery and its restaurant, O'Kitchen, killing 20 civilian hostages and two police officers; majority of members are Bangladeshi; affiliate Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh is a prominent Bangladeshi armed group known for attacking religious minorities such as Hindu clerics and minority Muslims from the Shia Muslim, Ahmadiyya, and Sufi communities; core ISIL refers to its Bangladesh branch as Bengal