Bangladesh Arrests 3 Islamists Over Killing of Secular Bloggers

Suspected Islamist militants arrested in Bangladesh for masterminding murders of secular bloggers.

Bangladeshi secular activists participate in a torch rally held to protest against the killing of blogger Niloy Chottopadhay, 40, in Dhaka, Bangladesh (Photo: AP)

Bangladesh’s elite forces said on Tuesday that they had arrested three suspected Islamist militants, including a British citizen of Bangladeshi origin, for masterminding the killings of two secular bloggers in the Muslim-majority nation.

Touhidur Rahman, 58, and two active members of outlawed Islamist group Ansarullah Bangla Team were arrested in Dhaka on Monday night, said Maksudul Alam, a spokesperson for the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) force.

Rahman is a Bangladeshi origin British citizen and we suspect he is the main planner of the killings of U.S. blogger Avijit Roy and Ananta Bijoy Das.
— Maksudal Alam

In February, machete-wielding assailants killed a U.S. citizen of Bangladeshi origin and critic of religious militancy, Avijit Roy, and seriously injured his wife and fellow blogger, Rafida Bonya Ahmed.

Another secular blogger, Ananta Bijoy Das, was hacked to death on May 12.