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Another blogger hacked to death in Bangladesh

Bangladeshi forensic experts investigate the site where blogger Ananta Bijoy Das was hacked to death in Sylhet, May 12, 2015. (© AFP)

Another blogger has been hacked to death by a group of masked men in northeastern Bangladesh, in a third such incident since February.

Bangladeshi officials said the incident took place on Tuesday in the northeastern city of Sylhet.

“Attackers wearing masks hacked Ananta Bijoy Das with machetes in Sylhet City at around 8.30 am this morning. We have learnt that he was a writer,” said the deputy commissioner of Sylhet police, Faisal Mahmud.

Officials said Das was rushed to the hospital after the attackers fled the scene, but was declared dead after arrival.

According to Imran Sarker, the head of a Bangladeshi bloggers’ association, the victim wrote for the Mukto-Mona website, which had been moderated by Avijit Roy, an American blogger of Bangladeshi origin who was himself killed on February 26.

The AFP photo shows the relatives of deceased Bangladeshi blogger Ananta Bijoy Das react after seeing his body in Sylhet, May 12, 2015.

 

Meanwhile, police commissioner Kamrul Hasan said Das had been on a hit list by the same people linked to Roy’s killing.

He said police were currently investigating claims by an unknown group that the al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) was responsible for the incident.

Days after Roy’s death at a crowded book fair in the capital, Dhaka, back in February, Bangladeshi authorities arrested Farabi Shafiur Rahman, a suspect accused of affiliation to a militant group, over the killing of the blogger. Rahman had reportedly threatened to kill Roy several times.

Bangladeshi Rapid Action Battalion personnel hold Farabi Shafiur Rahman, arrested over the murder of American-Bangladeshi blogger Avijit Roy, in Dhaka, March 2, 2015. (© AFP)

On March 30, 27-year-old blogger Washiqur Rahman was also killed under similar circumstances.

The Bangladeshi government has been under pressure to protect the rights of writers in the country.

SZH/HSN


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