Suspected militant arrested over Bangladesh gay activists murders

DHAKA (AFP) — Bangladesh police have arrested a suspected Islamic militant over the hacking to death of two gay rights activists, part of a spate of murders of intellectuals, writers and religious minorities, officers said yesterday.

Xulhaz Mannan, editor of a magazine for Bangladesh’s gay and lesbian community, and fellow activist Mahbub Tonoy were murdered in a Dhaka apartment last month by about six men carrying machetes and guns.

Police have arrested Shariful Islam Shihab, who they said was a member of a local Islamist militant outfit that has been blamed for a string of similar gruesome murders of secular and atheist bloggers.

“We’ve arrested one man in connection with the murder of Xulhaz Mannan,” Dhaka police spokesman Maruf Hossain Sorder told AFP.

“He is a member of the Ansarullah Bangla Team.”

At a press briefing in the capital, police said Shihab — who has denied carrying out the killings — owned one of two guns that were used in the murders.