Al-Qaeda claims Avijit murder

International Desk: The Search for International Terrorist Entities (SITE) Institute said, a wing of Al Qaeda India claimed the Prominent Bangladeshi-American blogger Avijit Roy gruesome killing.

The SITE Intelligence Group said, "Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) has claimed responsibility for the murder of the Bangladeshi-American atheist blogger."

The US website that monitors extremist groups also says, AQIS leader Asim Umar said his organisation was responsible for the attack in a video posted on jihadist forums on Saturday.

On the same video he also claimed the murders of other "blasphemers."

On February 26, Avijit, 42, was hacked to death and his wife Rafida Ahmed Bonna, 35, was seriously injured in an attack by unidentified assailants near the TSC.

Hours after the death of the author and blogger, the responsibility of the crime was claimed by a Twitter account reportedly belonging to “Ansar Bangla 7” - a group believed to be a religious fundamentalist.

The law enforcement agencies have arrested Shafiur Rahman Farabi, an alleged fanatic hate campaigner on social media and an activist of the banned Islamic militant outfit Hizb-ut Tahrir.

risingbd/ DHAKA/ May 3, 2015/ Kamruzzaman/ Nasim/ Mahfuz