Nov. 7 (UPI) — Counterterrorism officers arrested an Islamist militant suspected in the killing of a U.S. blogger in a machete attack in Bangladesh in 2015.
Officials believe Abu Siddiq Sohel, 34, was involved in the slaying of Bangladesh-born American writer Avijit Roy. Roy and his wife, Rafida Ahmed, were attacked by multiple assailants February 2015 as they returned home from a book fair in Dhaka. Ahmed survived the attack.
Sohel, also identified by the alias Sakib and Sajid alias Shahab, is believed to be a member of the Ansarullah Bangla Team branch of Ansar al-Islam, an al-Qaida-linked militant group.
Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s deputy commissioner, Masudur Rahman, said Sohel, 34, confessed to being an active member of the group. Sohel allegedly told a court that eight people took part in the killing.
Police said Sohel also was involved the slayings of blogger Niladri Chattarjee and Faisal Arefin Dipan.
Bangladesh’s The Daily Star newspaper reported the assailants acted under orders of Syed Ziaul Haque, a leader of Ansar al-Islam.
Islamist militants have been responsible for a slew of attacks on secular writers and foreigners throughout Bangladesh in recent years.
