Four held in Bangladesh over Italian’s murder

Four people have been arrested in Bangladesh in connection with the killing of an Italian aid worker, say police.

Miah Monday said foreigners have nothing to be anxious as they have beefed up security measures in Dhaka’s diplomatic zones and elsewhere in the country to prevent any further untoward incident.

Earlier in the day, detectives detained four including three suspected killers of Tavella Caesar from Dhaka.

Islamic state also claimed responsibility for a weekend bombing of a Shi’ite shrine in Dhaka that killed one person and wounded dozens.

Responsibility for the attack on Mr. Tavella was quickly claimed by Islamic State, but the Bangladeshi government denied that the extremist Sunni militant group had any presence in the country. “Tavella was not their specific target, he just became a victim being a white”, Mia said.

Asaduzzaman Mia told journalists at a press briefing Monday afternoon that the professional killers committed the murder in exchange for money being hired by someone whom he termed “a so-called big brother”.

They did not elaborate on the identity of the “big brother” said to have ordered the killing of Mr Tavella, who worked for a faith-based Dutch charity.

The police commissioner said that two of the suspects directly took part in the killing while another was waiting on the motorbike to flee the scene. Instead, Bangladesh accused domestic Islamist militants and Islamist politicians of orchestrating the violence to destabilize the nation.

Although police said the arrests were related to previous unrest and not linked to Saturday’s blast, the BNP said the government was clearly using the heightened state of anxiety as a pretext to crack down on opponents.

Scores of opposition activists including Islamists have been detained since the start of the year when fresh anti-government protests erupted.

The killings spooked the country’s expatriate community and threatened its fragile economy, which is heavily reliant on foreign aid and a $25 billion garment industry supplying clothing for global brands.