Two suspects arrested over Bangladesh blogger murder

 By 
Victoria Ho
 on 
Original image replaced with Mashable logo
Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

Bangladesh police have arrested two suspects over the murder of secular blogger Niloy Chakrabarti.

Chakrabarti was hacked to death at his home in early August by a gang of Islamic militants -- the fourth in a string of similar attacks on secular bloggers in the country.

Police arrested Kausar Hossain Khan, and Kamal Hossain Sardar -- both 29 years of age -- and said the two were suspected members of banned Islamic militant group, Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT).

Three other suspected members of ABT were arrested two weeks ago over the murder of two other secularist bloggers.

Dhaka Metropolitan police official Mahbub Alam said the latest arrest was a result of interrogating the group that was arrested earlier.

Chakrabarti was the most recent victim. Avijit Roy was the first, hacked to death in February, Washiqur Rahman was murdered in March, and Ananta Bijoy Ras was killed in May. The bloggers were using their social media accounts to rally supporters against religious fundamentalism, discussing its negative impact on society.

ABT is the sixth Islamist militant group to be banned in Bangladesh.

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