Mainul Islam Khan
DHAKA, Bangladesh
Bangladesh's home minister was among seven public figures sent death threats on Tuesday.
Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal was among the people on a hit list issued by recently banned militant group Ansarullah Bangla Team less than two weeks after similar threats were sent to 10 others, including the political adviser to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Other names included academics, activists and bloggers. The Proctor of the University of Dhaka, M. Amzad Ali, has filed complaint with the police in the capital Dhaka after he also was named on the letter.
Police inspector Noor-e-Azam Mia said: "we are looking into the matter and on the move to find them."
The threats come after several bloggers, who were active campaigners for secularism, have been killed in recent years, including three in 2015.
In the past week Bangladeshi police have also arrested several people they claim were trying to recruit for Daesh, the militant group that controls parts of Syria and Iraq, which is also known as ISIS.
"Our police have stopped an attempt at forming a branch of ISIS in Bangladesh. The terrorist attempting to set this up was a member of the Ansarullah Bangla Team, which we also banned last week," claimed Hasina's son, Sajeeb Wazed, on the public Facebook profile he often uses for statements. "This terrorist organization took credit for the recent murder of bloggers in Bangladesh."
