Another Bangladesh Blogger Hacked To Death, Islamist Militants Suspected

A secular blogger in Bangladesh has been hacked to death in
north-eastern Bangladesh in the third such deadly attack since the start of the
year, police say. Ananta Bijoy Das was attacked by a masked gang wielding
machetes in the city of Sylhet this morning.

He is the third blogger to be killed in Bangladesh since
February.

Mr Das wrote blogs for Mukto-Mona, a website once moderated by
Avijit Roy, himself hacked to death in February.

Mr Roy, a Bangladeshi-born US writer who had criticised
religious intolerance, was killed in a machete attack while he was visiting the
Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka.

And in March, another blogger, Washiqur Rahman, was hacked
to death in Dhaka.

A friend of Mr Das says he was on an alleged hit list of
atheist bloggers held by Islamist militants.

“In recent months, [Mr Das] received threats from
extremists for his writings. He was on their hit list,” Debasish Debu, his
friend said.

Last month’s attack on Mr Roy prompted massive protests from
students and social activists, who accused the authorities of failing to
protect critics of religious bigotry.

An Islamist has been arrested over his murder, while two
madrassa students have been arrested over Mr Rahman’s killing.