Maldives: Islamic militants behind ex-assassination president’s

A top Maldivian official said Saturday that Islamic militants behind ex-assassination president’s, Mohamed Nasheed earlier this week, while police said they had detained two of four suspects.

Nasheed, 53, was conscious and no longer required breathing support. According to hospital officials on Saturday, he remains in an intensive care unit following initial life-saving surgeries to his head, chest, abdomen, and limbs. They told reporters that shrapnel from the explosion had damaged his intestines and liver and that a piece of shrapnel had broken his rib and was a centimeter (0.4 inches) from his heart.

#UPDATE Maldives parliamentary speaker and former president Mohamed Nasheed was in a “critical condition” Friday after an assassination attempt, his hospital said after a series of surgeries pic.twitter.com/0TzgyiKCLg

— AFP News Agency (@AFP) May 7, 2021

According to Prosecutor General Hussain Shameem, investigators are still unsure which militants group was behind Thursday’s assault. This dangerous attack also injured two of Nasheed’s bodyguards and two apparent spectators, including a British resident. Police revealed Saturday that two men had apprehended in connection with the assault, and they posted a picture of the fugitive suspect, asking for the public’s help in locating him. There has no assertion of liability made by any party.

Nasheed, the new Speaker of Parliament, has been a vocal critic of religious bigotry in the overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim nation, where preaching and following other religions is illegal. Religious hardliners have often chastised him for his closeness to the West and western policies.

Following an order from the Maldives’ authorities, officers from the Australian Federal Police arrived in the country on Saturday to help with the inquiry. On Sunday, a British investigator scheduled to land in the Indian Ocean archipelago.

Police showed reporters surveillance camera video of the explosion, which shows Nasheed and his bodyguards walking through a small passageway leading from his home to the main road. As Nasheed enters his motorcycle, an explosion occurs. Authorities believe an improvised explosive device containing ball bearings. It was fixed to a motorcycle parked outside his vehicle and exploded remotely.

Nasheed was the Maldives’ first directly elected president, serving from 2008 until 2012 when he resigned amid demonstrations. He defeated in the subsequent presidential election. Also, he was ineligible for the 2018 election due to a jail term. However, he has remained a powerful political figure.

He has advocated for global attempts to combat climate change. Specifically advising that rising sea levels triggered by global warming endanger the archipelago nation’s low-lying islands.

The Maldives is well-known for its luxurious resorts, but it has also been the site of violent attacks on occasion. A bombing in a park in the capital in 2007. It injured 12 international visitors and also blamed religious extremists.

The Maldives has one of the largest per capita numbers of militants. These militants fought with the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq.

Authorities reported in January that eight people detained in November. The confined peoples discovered to be plotting an attack on a school. Also, they were constructing explosives in a boat at sea. The offenders, according to police, held military training on uninhabited islands and recruited teenagers.