Bangladesh has banned the Ansarullah Bangla Team militant Islamist group accused of carrying out the murders of three secular bloggers.
The country’s interior ministry announced the decision after police urged the ban. Police said preliminary investigations pointed the Ansarullah Bangla Team as involved in the murders.
The attacks have led to protests from activists who accuse authorities of failing to protect critics of religious discrimination.
Although Bangladesh is officially secular, about 90 percent of the country’s population of 160 million is Muslim, and the country has seen an increase in extreme Islamist ideologies.
Ananta Bijoy Das, 32, Washiqur Rahman, 27 and Avijit Roy, who lived in Atlanta, Ga., were all killed similarly in Bangladesh. All were secular bloggers who were attacked in busy Bangladeshi streets with sharp weapons including machetes.
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