Bangladesh PM rejects Daesh link to foreigner murders

Bangladeshi Premier Sheikh Hasina has dismissed claims by the Daesh Takfiri militant group of involvement in the killing of two foreigners.

Hasina told reporters at a press briefing in her office in the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka, on Sunday that police still had no evidence to confirm the group was behind the assassinations.

“We have still not found any involvement (of Daesh). We have to investigate,” she said, adding, “We’ve got no clues. If someone claims responsibility, why should we have to accept it?”

She emphasized that Bangladesh’s enforcement agencies would not allow militant groups like Daesh to operate across the country, saying, “Our intelligence agencies are active.”

Also on Sunday, Bangladesh’s Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal strongly rejected any presence of Daesh in the country. “I can again say boldly that there is no existence of ISIL (Daesh) in Bangladesh,” he said, adding such murders were “an attempt to create instability in the country.”

The comments came a day after a Japanese national was shot dead in northern Bangladesh in an attack claimed by the Takfiri terrorist group.