Al-Qaeda’s Indian offshoot claims responsibility for blogger Ananta’s murder, says Ansar Bangla 8

Al-Qaeda’s Indian chapter AQIS has claimed credit for blogger Ananta Bijoy Das’s murder, according to a tweet by extremist outfit Ansar Bangla 8.

The AQIS had earlier said that their accomplices in Bangladesh had killed blogger-writer Avijit Roy, who founded the blog ‘Mukta-mona’ (freethinkers).
 
Ananta, who was hacked to death between 9am and 9:30am on Tuesday at Sylhet’s Subidbazar, also used to write in that blog.
 
Police are yet to make any arrest over the blogger’s murder— the third to be killed in three months.
 
At 10:26am, Ansar Bangla 8 tweeted, “Allahu Akbar !!! Another one killed in Bangladesh few hours ago. Soon we'll confirm you from our Operation team.”
 
An hour later, it tweeted: “Alhamdulillah, Brothers are 100% safe. All praise is due to ALLAH alone.”
 

The next tweet around 11:45am read: “Al-Qaeda in Indian Sub-Continent (AQIS) claimed responsibility of killing  Ananta Bijoy in Sylhet.”
 
Another tweet asked journalists to use #AQIS while reporting about the killing, not Ansar Bangla 8.
 
Earlier, police had claimed extremist outfit Ansarullah Bangla Team’s hand in the murders of bloggers. 
 
Detectives suspect that it maintains contact with al-Qaeda.

Sylhet police said they were aware of al-Qaeda’s claim over Ananta’s murder.

“We have seen media reports on al-Qaeda’s involvement,” Sylhet Metropolitan Police Commissioner Kamrul Ahsan told bdnews24.com.

The police are considering the fact in its investigations, he added.