Three held for blogger Roy’s murder
1 March 2015 1:04 AM GMT
Three suspected Islamists were on Saturday arrested in Bangladesh in a pre-dawn raid, as authorities intensified a crackdown on extremists following the brutal killing of American blogger Avijit Roy in the capital. Acting on a tip-off, elite anti-crime Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) conducted a pre-dawn raid at a five-storey building in the northeastern port city of Chittagong and arrested three suspected militants. “We have seized 30 grenades...it appears they (militants) could have made some 300-400 bombs with the explosives we found at the den,” RAB’s commanding officer in Chittagong Lt Col Mista Uddin told reporters in a primary briefing.
Huge cache of explosives and weapons was seized from their possession, he said, adding that more details, including the identity of the Islamist outfit, would be given at a press conference later. The raid came two days after Roy, known for his critique of religious extremism, was hacked to death on Dhaka University campus by machete-wielding assailants. Roy was returning from a book fair with his wife on Thursday evening when the attack occurred. His wife and fellow blogger Rafida Ahmed Banna was seriously injured as she tried to defend him.
Huge cache of explosives and weapons was seized from their possession, he said, adding that more details, including the identity of the Islamist outfit, would be given at a press conference later. The raid came two days after Roy, known for his critique of religious extremism, was hacked to death on Dhaka University campus by machete-wielding assailants. Roy was returning from a book fair with his wife on Thursday evening when the attack occurred. His wife and fellow blogger Rafida Ahmed Banna was seriously injured as she tried to defend him.
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