Killings aimed at harming religious harmony: Minister

The recent killings have been carried out to harm religious harmony across the country, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan said today.

“I want to go forward with all the people of all religious community,” the minister said after ruling out the existence of militant group Islamic State in the country.

He was addressing a programme on “religious harmony” at Krishibid Institution, Bangladesh at Khamarbari in Dhaka organised by Dhaka Metrpolitan Police.

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The IS recently claimed responsibility of killing Rajshahi University teacher Prof AFM Rezaul Karim Siddiquee who was hacked to death near his home on April 23.

Two days after the killing, LGBT magazine editor Xulhaz Mannan and his friend Mahbub Tonoy were murdered in a flat in Kalabagan area Monday afternoon.

Ansar Al Islam, Bangladesh branch of al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS), on Tuesday claimed responsibility for the double murder, according to US-based monitoring agency SITE Intelligence Group. 

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On February 21, a Hindu priest was killed and a devotee shot when miscreants attacked a Hindu temple in Debiganj upazila of Panchagarh.

After the murder, the SITE Intelligence Group reported that IS claimed the responsibility for the Debiganj priest murder. The SITE also reported IS claim of the killings of two foreign nationals in Bangladesh -- Italian Cesare Tavella and Japanese Kunio Hoshi – and Hossaini Dalan bomb attack.