Prime suspect in Nasheed attack arrested, Maldives police say

Maldives police said they arrested a person believed to be the prime suspect in an explosion that critically wounded the country’s former president and which was blamed on Muslim extremists, according to The Associated Press.

Police said they now have three of four suspects in custody. Thursday’s blast targeted Mohammed Nasheed, currently the speaker of Parliament, who is recovering in a hospital after multiple surgeries, according to The Associated Press.

Nasheed has been an outspoken critic of religious extremism in the predominantly Sunni Muslim nation, where preaching and practicing other faiths are banned by law. He has been criticized by religious hard-liners for his closeness to the West and liberal policies.

Nasheed, 53, remains in the hospital after initial life-saving surgeries to his head, chest, abdomen and limbs, according to The Associated Press.

A relative tweeted early Sunday that Nasheed had been able to have long conversations with some family members.

Police said they believe the 25-year-old suspect is the same person whose pictures were released on Saturday to seek public assistance identifying him.

He was caught after a tip from the public. The fourth suspect remains at large.

Police released security camera footage Sunday which they said showed the suspect pacing at the entrance of a small restaurant, then walking out to a road and apparently detonating the bomb that targeted Nasheed.

Three men who were leaving the restaurant are then seen running back inside in fear.

A map with the suspect’s alleged escape route was also released to the press, with police cameras capturing the suspect running and walking through different roads in the capital island, Male.

Police said he went inside a mosque briefly, then met up with an accomplice near a public park. Police forces raided his home on the Hulhumale island near the capital earlier Sunday and arrested him.

Officials blamed extremists for the attack, although investigators still don’t know which group was responsible.