Suspects arrested in killing of Bangladeshi blogger
August 14, 2015Detectives have detained two suspects, Masud Rana and Saad Al Nahin, both members of the banned Bangladeshi Islamist organization Ansarullah Bangla Team, police spokesman Muntasirul Islam said Friday.
"We are not sure yet whether they are directly involved with the murder. The suspects are being questioned," Islam told dpa news agency.
Grisly murder the latest in spate of attacks
The men were arrested in connection with the killing of Niladri Chottopadhay Niloy - also known by his pen names Niloy Chakrabarty and Niloy Neel - who was found dead in his apartment last Friday, the victim of a dozen stab wounds.
Four men posing as tenants had entered his apartment building and murdered the outspoken blogger, the fourth such type of killing in six months, investigators said.
Islamist militants claim responsibility
Hours after the killing, Ansar-Al-Islam, an al-Qaeda-linked underground group, claimed responsibility for the murder in an email sent to media.
It has claimed other attacks on bloggers in the past.
Asha Moni, the slain blogger's wife, alleged that her husband had been threatened several times for his blog but that police had refused to register his complaints or provide physical protection.
Militants have been targeting secularist writers in Bangladesh. The government has tried to crack down on hardline Islamist groups active in the South Asian nation of 160 million people.