DHAKA: The High Court of Bangladesh on Sunday upheld the death sentences of two members of a banned Islamist group accused of killing a blogger, a court official said.
The two were sentenced to death in 2015 for killing Ahmed Rajib Haider, a youth group activist campaigning for a trial of war criminals, including those involved in Bangladesh’s independence war with Pakistan in 1971.
Rajib was hacked to death in Dhaka in 2013.
The two convicts, Redwanul Azad Rana and Faisal Bin Nayem, are members of the Islamist group Ansar al Islam, linked to Al-Qaeda. In 2015, Dhaka police announced a reward of 500,000 taka ($6,410) for Rana, believed to be the most senior leader of the group. He has gone into hiding.
Rana is also accused of hacking to death another blogger, Bangladesh-born US citizen Avijit Roy, in the same year.
Bangladesh has been battling a rise in Islamist-linked violence in the past four years. Since July, several militants have been arrested or killed in police operations for involvement in last year’s attack on a Dhaka cafe in which 22 people, mostly foreigners, were killed.
Since 2013 Islamist militants killed or seriously injured 48 people in Bangladesh, including at least six online critics of religious militancy who were hacked to death.
Daesh and Al-Qaeda have made competing claims over the killings of foreigners, liberals and members of religious minorities in Bangladesh, a mostly Muslim country of 160 million people.
The government has consistently ruled out the presence of foreign groups, blaming domestic militants instead. (Reporting by Serajul Quadir)
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Bangladesh upholds death sentences of two blogger killers
Bangladesh upholds death sentences of two blogger killers
Flights to Ethiopia's Tigray region suspended as clashes erupt
Addis Ababa - ETH
Addis Ababa, Jan 29, 2026 (AFP) - - Clashes between federal and Tigrayan forces have erupted in Ethiopia's northern Tigray region, prompting the suspension of flights, security and diplomatic sources told AFP on Thursday.
The renewed tensions risk a return to conflict in the volatile region, which around three years ago emerged from a brutal war between Ethiopian federal forces and the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) that killed at least 600,000 people between November 2020 and November 2022, according to the African Union -- a toll some experts say is understated.
Hostilities broke out in recent days in Tsemlet, western Tigray, an area claimed by forces from the neighbouring Amhara region who have refused to withdraw despite a peace agreement signed in Pretoria at the end of 2022 requiring them to do so.
"The situation appears to be deteriorating," the security source said.
A diplomatic source who spoke on condition of anonymity told AFP that the Tigray forces were facing "the ENDF (Ethiopian army) alongside Amhara militias".
"The clashes were confirmed in recent days, but today we don't know the situation," the source added.
A local source, speaking on condition of anonymity, also confirmed the clashes, while the federal army has yet to respond to AFP.
The sources confirmed the suspension of flights to Tigray, which are operated by Ethiopian Airlines, the fully state-owned carrier and the only airline serving the northern region.
The national carrier is yet to reply to AFP.
The TPLF, which once controlled all of Ethiopia before being displaced by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's administration, remains banned.
Addis Ababa has accused the group of forging ties with neighbouring Eritrea and "actively preparing to wage war against Ethiopia".
Tensions remain high in Tigray despite the peace agreement that ended the fighting, with several hundred thousand people still displaced.
dyg/mnk/kjm
Addis Ababa, Jan 29, 2026 (AFP) - - Clashes between federal and Tigrayan forces have erupted in Ethiopia's northern Tigray region, prompting the suspension of flights, security and diplomatic sources told AFP on Thursday.
The renewed tensions risk a return to conflict in the volatile region, which around three years ago emerged from a brutal war between Ethiopian federal forces and the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) that killed at least 600,000 people between November 2020 and November 2022, according to the African Union -- a toll some experts say is understated.
Hostilities broke out in recent days in Tsemlet, western Tigray, an area claimed by forces from the neighbouring Amhara region who have refused to withdraw despite a peace agreement signed in Pretoria at the end of 2022 requiring them to do so.
"The situation appears to be deteriorating," the security source said.
A diplomatic source who spoke on condition of anonymity told AFP that the Tigray forces were facing "the ENDF (Ethiopian army) alongside Amhara militias".
"The clashes were confirmed in recent days, but today we don't know the situation," the source added.
A local source, speaking on condition of anonymity, also confirmed the clashes, while the federal army has yet to respond to AFP.
The sources confirmed the suspension of flights to Tigray, which are operated by Ethiopian Airlines, the fully state-owned carrier and the only airline serving the northern region.
The national carrier is yet to reply to AFP.
The TPLF, which once controlled all of Ethiopia before being displaced by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's administration, remains banned.
Addis Ababa has accused the group of forging ties with neighbouring Eritrea and "actively preparing to wage war against Ethiopia".
Tensions remain high in Tigray despite the peace agreement that ended the fighting, with several hundred thousand people still displaced.
dyg/mnk/kjm
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