Dhaka: The father of slain Bangladesh-born American blogger Avijit Roy believes that the claim of Al Qaeda’s regional branch regarding the brutal killing of Avijit might be an attempt to divert the investigation away from real perpetrators.

Asim Umar, the Indian-born head of Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS), claimed responsibility for a string of attacks that killed several secular writers and intellectuals in Bangladesh and Pakistan, including Avijit Roy, son of noted physicist Ajoy Roy and founder of Mukto-Mona blog, in February this year.

Talking to UNB over phone, Avijit’s father Ajoy Roy said AQIS’s claim might just be a strategic attempt to divert the attention of the local investigating agencies to a different direction.

He, however, said that he is not concerned over the AQIS claim, and hopes that the real killers would be arrested soon.

‘I came to know that the investigation agency has already identified three perpetrators involved in the killing. I hope they will be arrested soon,’ Ajoy Roy said.

Detective Branch (DB) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police has been carrying out the investigation into the case.

Avijit Roy was killed and his wife Rafida Afrin Banya injured seriously as miscreants believed to be affiliated with radical Islamic groups stabbed them near TSC on the Dhaka University Campus on 26 February.

A case was filed with Shahbagh police station the following day and later, the case was transferred to DB.

AQIS is an Islamist militant organisation which aims to fight the governments of Pakistan, India, Myanmar and Bangladesh in order to establish Islamic state. It is the regional branch of Al Qaida, the global terror outfit founded by late Osama bin Laden.

Earlier on 3 September, 2014 Ayman al-Zawahiri, leader of al-Qaeda, announced the establishment of AQIS, a new branch in the Indian subcontinent, in a 55-minute video posted online.