Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) claimed responsibility for the murder of a Bangladeshi-American secularist blogger, a number of other Bangladeshi liberal bloggers, and a well-known secularist academic, according to the SITE Intelligence Group.
In a video circulated online, AQIS leader Asim Umar said Al-Qaeda operatives murdered bloggers Avijit Roy, Oyasiqur Rahman Babu, Ahmed Rajeeb Haider and Rajshahi University teacher AKM Shafiul Islam.
The AQIS leader said his organisation was responsible for the attack in a video posted on jihadist forums on Saturday, the same day Avijit’s wife Rafida Ahmed Bonna, who was severely injured in the attack, won German broadcaster Deutche Welle’s Best of the Blogs award.
Avijit Roy was hacked to death by two assailants with machetes on the streets of the capital Dhaka on February 26 as he returned from the Amar Ekushey Book Fair with his wife.
“Al-Qaeda operatives in the Indian sub-continent have recently assassinated several blasphemers.
“The killing mission started in Pakistan with the murder of the secular Dr Shakeel Auj and blogger Aneeqa Naz.
“And extended to Bangladesh where Rajeeb Haider had earlier been assassinated.
“Meanwhile, the accused atheist professor of Rajshahi University and the American citizen Avijit Roy have also been killed using a butcher’s knife,” the video said.
Rajeeb and Oyasiqur were killed by machete-wielding attackers on February 15, 2013 and March 30 this year.
On November 15 last year, unidentified assailants hacked Prof Shafiul to death with machetes in broad daylight near his Choddopai residence close to the Rajshahi University campus.
Bangladeshi militant outfit Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT) also claimed responsibility for Avijit's murder via a Twitter account which police have not been able to verify as genuine.
An advocate of secularism, Avijit was well known for his Mukto-Mona (freethinker) blog where he wrote against all forms of organised religious fanatics.
Joint Commissioner of Detective Branch of police Monirul Islam told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday that the murder was believed to be carried out by Ansarullah.
"We have been saying this since the beginning of our investigation," he said.
Lt Col Abul Kalam Azad, director of intelligence wing of RAB, told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday that his force was unsure of the video’s claims. “We first need to check from where and which link the video was uploaded, and see if it is a fake ID.”
Once we are sure that this is an authentic Al-Qaeda video, we need to launch another investigation to check if the claim is true.”
In March, police arrested two madrassa students over the killing of Oyasiqur. Police are investigating whether they belonged to Ansarullah and whether they had any connection with Avijit's murder.
