MALDIVES ATTACK: KEY SUSPECT ARRESTED, EX-PRESIDENT RECOVERING

COLOMBO: Maldives police said on Sunday they arrested a person believed to be the prime suspect in an explosion that critically wounded the country’s former president and which was blamed on Muslim extremists. Police said they now have three of four suspects in custody. Thursday’s blast targeted Mohamed Nasheed, currently the speaker of Parliament, who is recovering in a hospital after multiple surgeries.

Police did not give details on the latest suspect or his background, but in a text message confirmed that they believe he is the person whose pictures were released on Saturday as authorities sought public assistance identifying him. The fourth suspect remains at large.

Officials blamed Islamic extremists for the attack, although investigators still don’t know which group was responsible. Two of Nasheed’s bodyguards and two apparent bystanders, including a British citizen, were also wounded.

Nasheed has been an outspoken critic of religious extremism in the predominantly Sunni Muslim nation, where preaching and practising other faiths are banned by law. He has been criticised by religious hard-liners for his closeness to the West.

Hospital officials said Nasheed, 53, remains in an intensive care unit after initial life-saving surgeries to his head, chest, abdomen and limbs.