DHAKA, Bangladesh: Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) has claimed responsibility for the murder of an American atheist blogger in Bangladesh over two months ago, according to SITE Intelligence Group.
Avijit Roy was hacked to death by two assailants with machetes on the streets of the capital Dhaka in February as he returned from a book fair with his wife.
AQIS leader Asim Umar said his organization was responsible for the attack in a video posted on jihadist forums on Saturday, according to SITE, a US website that monitors extremist groups.
He also claimed the murders of other “blasphemers.”
A spokesman for Bangladesh’s Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) force, which is tasked with tackling militancy in the Muslim-majority nation, said it couldn’t be certain the claim was correct.
“We are not sure,” Mufti Mahmud told AFP when asked if Al Qaeda was behind the deaths of Roy and anti-Islam writers Ahmed Rajib Haider and Washiqur Rahman.
Haider and Rahman were also killed by machete-wielding attackers. Haider died in 2013 and Rahman was hacked to death in March.
A little-known Bangladeshi militant group called Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT) has also apparently claimed responsibility for Roy’s murder via a twitter account which police have not been able to verify as genuine.
The Bangladesh-born writer, who emigrated to the southern US state of Georgia some 15 years ago, was well known in his native land for his Mukto-Mona (Free-mind) blog where he railed against all forms of organized religion.
He was also the author of a series of books, including the best-selling “The Virus of Faith,” which was hugely contentious in Bangladesh, an officially secular state where around 90 percent of people are Muslim.
In March, police arrested two madrassa students over the killing of Rahman. Police are investigating whether they belonged to ABT and whether they had any connection with Roy’s murder.
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Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said the man was a 37-year-old city resident who was believed to be a US citizen. He did not release the name of the man, who he said was a lawful gun owner with no criminal record.
A video circulating on social media and aired on cable news stations showed people wearing masks and tactical vests wrestling with a man on a snow-covered street before shots are heard. In the video, the man falls to the ground, and several more shots are heard.
Later, video from the area showed immigration agents deploying tear gas on a growing crowd of onlookers.
MAYOR, GOVERNOR CALL FOR OPERATION TO END
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey called for an immediate end to the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement operations in the state.
“How many more residents, how many more Americans need to die or get badly hurt for this operation to end?” Frey said at a news conference.
The state’s governor and two US senators also called for federal agents to leave.
Trump has been briefed on the shooting, a White House official told Reuters.
O’Hara said there was a “volatile scene” at the site of the shooting and asked people to avoid the area.
“Please do not destroy our city,” he said.
The nearby Minneapolis Institute of Art said it had closed for the day due to safety concerns.
The shooting came one day after more than 10,000 people took to the frigid streets to protest the presence of the 3,000 federal agents who have been ordered to the state by Trump.
Residents have been angered by several incidents, including the killing of US citizen Renee Good, the detention of a US citizen who was taken from his home in his underwear, and the detention of school children, including a 5-year-old boy.
On Thursday, Vice President JD Vance visited Minneapolis to show support for immigration officers and to ask local leaders and activists to reduce tensions, saying US Immigration and Customs Enforcement was carrying out an important mission to detain immigration violators.
Al Qaeda branch claims murder of Bangladesh-born US blogger
Al Qaeda branch claims murder of Bangladesh-born US blogger
Federal immigration agents fatally shoot second person in Minneapolis
- Border Patrol agents fired in defense at a man who approached them with a handgun and two magazines
- Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said the man was a 37-year-old city resident who was believed to be a US citizen
MINNEAPOLIS, USA: Federal agents shot and killed a man in Minneapolis on Saturday, local and federal officials said, the second fatal shooting involving federal agents this month during a surge in immigration enforcement in the northern US city.
The US Department of Homeland Security said Border Patrol agents fired in defense at a man who approached them with a handgun and two magazines.
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said the man was a 37-year-old city resident who was believed to be a US citizen. He did not release the name of the man, who he said was a lawful gun owner with no criminal record.
A video circulating on social media and aired on cable news stations showed people wearing masks and tactical vests wrestling with a man on a snow-covered street before shots are heard. In the video, the man falls to the ground, and several more shots are heard.
Later, video from the area showed immigration agents deploying tear gas on a growing crowd of onlookers.
MAYOR, GOVERNOR CALL FOR OPERATION TO END
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey called for an immediate end to the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement operations in the state.
“How many more residents, how many more Americans need to die or get badly hurt for this operation to end?” Frey said at a news conference.
The state’s governor and two US senators also called for federal agents to leave.
Trump has been briefed on the shooting, a White House official told Reuters.
O’Hara said there was a “volatile scene” at the site of the shooting and asked people to avoid the area.
“Please do not destroy our city,” he said.
The nearby Minneapolis Institute of Art said it had closed for the day due to safety concerns.
The shooting came one day after more than 10,000 people took to the frigid streets to protest the presence of the 3,000 federal agents who have been ordered to the state by Trump.
Residents have been angered by several incidents, including the killing of US citizen Renee Good, the detention of a US citizen who was taken from his home in his underwear, and the detention of school children, including a 5-year-old boy.
On Thursday, Vice President JD Vance visited Minneapolis to show support for immigration officers and to ask local leaders and activists to reduce tensions, saying US Immigration and Customs Enforcement was carrying out an important mission to detain immigration violators.
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