#Bangladesh

Welcome to our image of the day feature! Except we call it Photo Of The Day here at TFB. Every day, we showcase at least one stunning image that captures the beauty of the world of firearms. Here we have soldiers with the Bangladesh Army, as they conduct cordon and search training during Keris Aman 23 exercise.

The ARES Hoplite blog has researched and reported on a growing trend within terrorist groups in Bangladesh using .22 LR cosmetically similar Kalashnikov blowback rifles to carry out violent attacks. This particular attack was carried out on the Holey Artisan Bakery on July 17 2016 and was the most violent terrorist operation to have taken place in Bangladesh so far. ARES has put forth research indicating that the rifles were locally made in Bangladesh, possibly with help from Pakistani gunmakers in Dharra Adam Khel, the notoriously famous home gun-making village in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. Previously firearms in Dharra Adam Khel were very localized, most of the usage within Pakistan and Afghanistan. This example is one of the first to show the “weaponizing” of local gunmaking abilities. The fact that Pakistani gunmakers traveled to Bangladesh indicates a larger operation on the part of the terrorists there. I personally find this odd, as acquiring small arms on the local black markets would seem logistically much easier than resorting to producing them locally. The weapon is known locally as the AK-22. From ARES-