Bangladesh rules out IS links to dozens of recent murders

The Bangladeshi government Sunday ruled out IS link to dozens of recent murders.

Amir Hussain Amu, an influential member of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina cabinet, told journalists Sunday that the investigators have found no IS link in recent 37 killings.

The minister made the announcement a day after IS claimed responsibility for the killing of a homoeopathic doctor in western Bangladesh.

The Muslim-majority country has now been reeling under a series of brutal murders of secular activists, free-thinking writers and minorities by militants.

The minister pointed finger at a number of banned local militant outfits for the murders.

"Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) had been directly involved in at least 27 of 37 recent murders, " said Amu, Industries minister, after attending a cabinet committee meeting on law and order in which Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, Law Minister Anisul Huq, Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu, among others, were present.

He said another banned Ansarullah Bangla Team and militant groups were involved in the rest of the killings.

Security measures have been beefed up in the country to prevent any further untoward incident, he said.

A number of secularist writers, bloggers and publishers in Bangladesh have been killed or seriously injured in attacks perpetrated by Islamist extremists since 2013.

IS militants have claimed responsibility for most of the past murders. Endit