By Mizan Rahman
Dhaka
A sleeper cell of Islamic militant outfit Ansarullah Bangla Team carried out the gruesome killing of blogger Washiqur Rahman in the Bangladesh capital Dhaka, according to the Detective Branch (DB) of police.
During interrogation, suspected killers Zikrullah and Ariful, who are now on an eight-day remand, revealed that they were members of a sleeper cell of Ansarullah Bangla Team, said Monirul Islam, joint commissioner (DB) of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) at a briefing yesterday.
The radical Islamic group is learned to have several sleeper cells among themselves, of which and two-three are active now, he added.
Sleeper cell is a group of people who operate secretly in a community until they receive any instruction from elsewhere to perform acts of espionage or sabotage.
Islam said both Zikrullah and Ariful were from Hathazari Madarasa but Arful is now studying at Mirpur Darul Ulum Madarasa.
They had been living at a house in Jatrabari area of Dhaka where they were trained to kill him about 15 days back, the joint commissioner of police said, adding that they were assigned only to kill Rahman.
Blogger Rahman, 26, also an employee of Far East Travels, was hacked to death by the assailants at South Begunbari in Tejgaon Industrial area of the capital Dhaka on Monday.
Police arrested Zikrullah and Ariful with three homemade sharp weapons while they were fleeing from the crime scene just after killing Rahman.
