Bangladesh arrests two suspected Islamic State members

Bangladeshi police have arrested two suspected members of the Islamic State group who were planning to fight alongside militants in Syria.

Bangladeshi police have arrested two suspected members of the Islamic State group who were planning to fight alongside militants in Syria, a police official said on Monday, adding to concerns about the rise of extremist groups in South Asia.

The pair were detained during a raid in the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka, on Sunday night, said a senior official for the police detectives branch who asked not to be identified. At least 12 people have been arrested in Bangladesh in recent months for suspected involvement with Islamic State, which has seized control of swaths of territory in Iraq and Syria in recent months.

Reports of the growing influence of Islamic State have raised fears across South Asia. However, it remains unclear whether militants organising under the Islamic State name are acting on their own or as part of a centralised initiative from the Middle East. Bangladesh is already on alert after three secular bloggers were killed by radical Islamists since February.