Man held for Bangladesh gay activist’s murder

“The suspect, Shariful Islam alias Shihab, has been detained from Kushtia early on Sunday, said Dhaka metro police (DMP) spokesperson Deputy Commissioner Maruf Hossain Sardar. 

Police said that the suspect belongs to an Islamist militant outfit. “Shihab is an activist of the Ansarullah Bangla Team. They have been hiding in Khulna since the killing,” Detective Branch Deputy Commissioner Mashrukur Rahman Khaled. 

On the evening of April 25, assailants barged into the apartment of Xulhaz Mannan, a programme officer with the USAID and an editor of Bangladesh’s first LGBT magazine. Xulhaz and his theatre activist friend Mahbub Rabbi Tonoy were hacked with meat cleavers on their head and neck, which forensic experts said was to ensure instant death. 

Militant outfit ‘Ansar Al Islam’, which claims to be the Bangladesh affiliate of al-Qaeda, had claimed responsibility for the killings as well as six other previous killings of bloggers-online activists and the publisher. 

Witnesses said five to seven people, clad in t-shirts and jeans, were involved in the killings and fled the scene after firing guns, shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’. 

The attackers also injured a security guard of the building. A patrol police officer was also injured while trying to stop them. 

He, however, managed to snatch a bag from one of the assailants, inside which two firearms, ammunitions and a mobile phone were found. 

Xulhaz’s family lodged a case on the same day against unidentified men while the police filed another case for the attack on the police offices and the seizure of firearms.

Myanmar nationals among 3 held for monk’s murder: 

Three persons, including two Myanmar nationals, were on Sunday arrested in Bangladesh in connection with the brutal killing of a 70-year-old Buddhist monk inside a remote monastery, police said on the latest attack on minorities in the Muslim-majority nation. 

Two Rohingyas – Abdur Rahim, 25, and Md Zia, 26 – besides Sa Mong Chak, 35, were picked up from their homes in different areas on Sunday morning, Naikhyongchharhi police station officer-in-charge Abul Khayer said. 

The development comes a day after Mawng Shoi Wuu, chief of the monastery located in Bandarban hill district’s remote and rugged Naikkhangchari area, was found with his throat slit, in a killing that bears the hallmark of previous murders of intellectuals and minorities by Islamists in the country. 

Mawng used to live alone at the monastery Chak Nirvana Bouddha Kyang, situated some 230 metres away from the nearest village Uppar Chak Para where his family live.