Sentenced To Death For The Murder Of US Citizens, Al Qaeda Inspired Militants Escapeed From Court

Illustration of militants. (Wikimedia Commons/Magharebia)

JAKARTA - Two militants sentenced to death for killing a US blogger have escaped from a Bangladeshi court.

Two militant groups inspired by Al-Qaeda were sentenced to death for killing a US blogger critical of religious extremism, fleeing a crowded court in Dhaka, Bangladesh on Sunday.

Avijit Roy, an engineer from Bangladesh, was hacked to death by an attacker armed with a machete in February 2015, when he returned home with his wife from the Dhaka book exhibition.

His wife, blogger Rafida Bonya Ahmed, suffered head injuries and lost a thumb as a result of the attack.

Five members of the militant group were sentenced to death last year. while one person was jailed for life.

Two of those sentenced to death fled on Sunday, after motorcyclists sprayed chemicals at police before "crewling" the convicts, police said.

"A massive hunt has been launched to arrest them and their assistants," Interior Minister Asaduzzaman Khan told reporters.

He added that border security officials had been alerted to stop these people from escaping from the country.

The police have also announced a prize of two million Taka (approximately US$19,350) to track down the convicts.

The convicts are part of an Al Qaeda-inspired domestic militant group, Tim Ansar Ullah Bangla. Police say the group was behind the killings of more than a dozen secular activists and bloggers.

It is known that Bangladesh, which is predominantly Muslim, experienced a series of deadly attacks between 2013 and 2016 targeting bloggers, secular activists and minorities, claimed by the Islamic State group or Al Qaeda.