The Islamic State claimed the killing of an Italian national, identified as Tavella Cesare, in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka.
A 50 year old charity worker named Tavella Cesare died in hospital after being shot 3 times allegedly by militants attached to the Islamic State according to a statement released by the group today on social media. The group stated that “citizens of the crusader coalition” would not be safe in Muslim nations.
Dhaka police spokesman Muntashirul Islam told AFP, “he was shot three times at Road Number 90 in the capital’s Gulshan area in the afternoon.” SITE intelligence group that monitors insurgency globally released a statement saying, a “security detachment” had tracked and killed Tavella with “silenced weapons” in Dhaka.
According to Dawn, “His colleague Alo Rani Dhali said Cesare had come to Bangladesh in May to work in the food security sector for a Netherlands-based church cooperative called ICCO.”
This appears to be the first time IS have struck in Bangladesh. Over the last year the group has made in roads into Pakistan and Afghanistan looking to expand in the region with fighting breaking out between IS and the Taliban. There are also concerns regarding the influence of IS in India which borders Bangladesh. The MailOnline in India reported that “security forces in the country have stopped more than 25 Indian citizens from joining ISIS, after they were radicalized by the terror group.” A plot was also revealed in documents discovered that Islamic State are secretly planning to provoke an ‘end of the world’ scenario by attacking India to try and entice USA into all-out war.
Bangladesh has been plagued recently by a number of blogger deaths which have been claimed by an affiliate of Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS). They circulated a “hitlist” on social media of who they planned to attack, see article below,
“Bangladesh: Ansar- al -Islam (AQIS) claim responsibility for 4th blogger killed this year”
The killing of Cesare will only add to security concerns which may now be affecting international cricket and possibly football also as Australian cricket authorities debate whether to risk touring in Bangladesh, see Guardian report,
“Doubts mount over Australia tour amid increased safety concerns in Bangladesh”
Carol Anne Grayson is an independent writer/researcher on global health/human rights/WOT and is Executive Producer of the Oscar nominated, Incident in New Baghdad. She is a Registered Mental Nurse with a Masters in Gender Culture and Development. Carol was awarded the ESRC, Michael Young Prize for Research 2009, and the COTT ‘Action = Life’ Human Rights Award’ for “upholding truth and justice”. She is also a survivor of US “collateral damage”.
Carol Anne Grayson (Radical Sister) blog 