Militant leader confesses to killing of Japanese national in Bangladesh

By

Sheuli Akter

The leader of a banned militant group in Bangladesh has confessed his involvement in the killing of Japanese citizen Hoshi Kunio, who was shot dead on Oct. 3 in the country’s northern Rangpur district.

Humayun Kabir, a senior Rangpur police official, told journalists on Tuesday that “JMB‘s Rangpur region leader Masud Rana has given a confessional statement in court.”

He however did not mention when and where the Kunio Hoshi murder suspect was arrested.

“Rana admitted that he had opened fire on the Japanese national on Oct. 3 while he was giving a confessional statement before a court on Monday,” the police official said.

The arrested JMB leader also disclosed how they planned and killed Hoshi Kunio, he said.

Hoshi Kunio, 66, was shot dead just five days after an Italian aid worker was murdered in Dhaka’s diplomatic zone. The Rangpur district is some 304 km from the capital Dhaka.

Sheuli Akter

Sheuli Akter, from Bangladesh, is a Special Correspondent and Editor of NsNewsWire, (Bangladesh’s First Press Newswire).  Previously she had worked for Bangladesh’ top news agency, United News of Bangladesh (UNB) and top newspaper (now defunct) The Bangladesh Observer. She also gained an honourable mention in the first ever World Media Summit WMS Awards for ‘Exemplary News Professionals in Developing Countries’, receiving the award in Beijing in January 2015.