Bangladesh charges opposition BNP leader over Italian's murder

DHAKA: Bangladesh police have charged seven persons including a senior leader of the main opposition BNP for their alleged involvement in the murder of an Italian aid worker last year, an official said today.

The chargesheet was submitted to a Dhaka magistrate court yesterday against seven persons including former Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) ward commissioner MA Kayum in the murder of Italian national Ceasre Tavella, Dhaka metro police Deputy Commissioner Masudur Rahman said.

Rahman said that except two, all the accused including Kayum are in police custody, bdnews24 reported.

Four suspects were arrested in October and all of them had confessed to the killing. The fifth suspect, Kayum's brother Matin, was arrested in November.

Tavella, 50, was shot dead in a high security diplomatic area in Dhaka on September 28, the first attack in Bangladesh claimed by the dreaded Islamic State terror group that had prompted many embassies of Western countries to restrict the movements of their diplomats.

Tavella, who was working for the Netherlands-based ICCO Cooperation as manager of its Profitable Opportunities for Food Security project, was shot thrice from a close proximity in Dhaka's Gulshan diplomatic zone while he was jogging, police said.

In a statement issued in Arabic, the Islamic State (IS, also known as ISIS or ISIL) claimed that it killed Tavella, SITE Intelligence Group said.

In its claim, ISIS had warned that "citizens of the crusader coalition" would not be safe in Muslim nations.