Dhaka: Islamists held for Hindu priest slaying

ISIS claims murder; 20 bombs found in Bangladesh raids

The Bangladesh police have arrested three local Islamists over the decapitation of a top Hindu priest, the latest attack targeting religious minorities in the Muslim-majority nation, officers said Monday.

The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for the attack inside the temple complex on Sunday in the country’s north, but the local police said there was no evidence to suggest the jihadist group was involved. “We’ve arrested three people for interrogation,” said Babul Akhter, police chief of Debiganj area where the attack happened.

Two members of banned militant group Jamayetul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) and an activist with Jamaat-e-Islami, Bangladesh’s largest Islamist political party, were arrested overnight Sunday. The police did not give details of their alleged involvement in the attack. “The ISIS group has previously claimed responsibility for attacks on minorities. But we haven’t found any evidence confirming their link. Rather we have found JMB was behind these killings,” Akhter told AFP.

Two unknown men armed with pistols and cleavers attacked Jogeswar Roy as he was arranging prayers at the temple in Debiganj town, some 400 km north of the capital Dhaka, the police have said. Two devotees were also wounded in the attack, including one who was shot as he tried to save the priest, they have said. US-based monitoring organisation SITE has reported that the ISIS group said in a statement it is behind the murder.

Meanwhile, the Bangladesh police seized at least 20 bombs and bomb-making materials and arrested two suspected members of a banned radical Islamist group in a series of weekend raids, an official said Monday.

Authorities have been under pressure to crack down on radical groups after attacks on foreigners and minorities last year raised concern abo-ut rising extremism in the secular nation. The deputy inspector-general of Dhaka police, Monirul Islam, said they arrested two members of the banned Ansarullah Bangla Team group during raids on at least four homes in the capital and its outskirts.

He said some people were seen fleeing from the houses. The raids yielded information that led officers to another home in the capital where they found 20 “powerful bombs” and bomb-making materials, he said. Islam said the bombs likely belonged to Ansarullah Bangla Team members who used the top floor of the home as an arsenal. However, two other police officers said on condition of anon-ymity that it was unclear who used the home and who possessed the explosives. The police did not allow reporters to enter the raided homes.