A publisher of secular books was hacked to death and three other people were wounded in fresh attacks in Bangladesh’s capital that were claimed by Muslim radicals, while a human rights group called on the government to urgently protect freedom of expression.
The latest violence on Saturday followed the killings of four atheist bloggers this year, while the Islamic State (IS) has claimed responsibility for three other attacks.
Two of the new victims had published works by Bangladeshi-American blogger and writer Avijit Roy, who was hacked to death on the University of Dhaka campus while walking with his wife in February.
Local extremist group Ansarullah Bangla Team had claimed responsibility for the blogger killings and recently threatened to kill more bloggers.
Another militant group, Ansar al-Islam, the Bangladeshi division of al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent, issued a statement claiming responsibility for the attacks on publishers Faisal Arefin Deepan and Ahmed Rahim Tutul, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors extremist online postings. The claim of responsibility could not be independently verified.
Amnesty International called on the Bangladeshi government to “act urgently” to ensure the protection of others in the nation, calling the attacks “a deliberate assault against freedom of expression.”
The body of Deepan, of the Jagriti Prokashoni publishing house, was found inside his office following the second of Saturday’s attacks, senior police officer Shibly Noman said.
Earlier in the day, publisher Ahmed Rahim Tutul and two writers were shot and stabbed by three men in the office of the Shudhdhoswar publishing house, police officer Abdullah al-Mamun said.
Police chief Jamal Uddin Meer said the assailants then locked the wounded men inside the office before fleeing the scene.
“We had to break the lock to recover them,” Meer said.
The two writers were identified by police as Ranadeep Basu and Tareque Rahim. All three of the victims were hospitalized, and Tutul was in critical condition, Meer said.
Ansar al-Islam accused the “secular and atheist publishers” of putting out books by blasphemers that dishonored the Prophet Mohammed, and threatened more attacks.
Bangladesh has been rocked by a series of attacks this year claimed by Muslim extremists, including the blogger killings and, more recently, the killings of two foreigners — an Italian aid worker and a Japanese agricultural worker. An Oct. 24 bomb attack on thousands of Shiite Muslims in Dhaka killed a teenage boy and injured more than 100 other people.
The IS claimed responsibility for the attacks on the two foreigners and the bombing, but Bangladesh’s government has rejected that the extremist Sunni militant group has any presence in the nation.
The government has instead blamed domestic Muslim militants along with extremist political parties — specifically the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party and its main ally, Jamaat-e-Islami — for orchestrating the violence to destabilize the already fractious nation.
Tunisian President Kais Saied yesterday condemned a European Parliament resolution on human rights calling for the release of his critics as “blatant interference.” The EU Parliament resolution, voted by an overwhelming majority the day before, called for the release of lawyer Sonia Dahmani, a popular critic of Saied, who was freed from prison on Thursday, but remained under judicial supervision. “The European Parliament [resolution] is a blatant interference in our affairs,” Saied said. “They can learn lessons from us on rights and freedoms.” Saied’s condemnation also came two days after he summoned the EU’s ambassador for “failing to respect diplomatic rules.” He also
Tropical Storm Koto killed three people and left another missing as it approached Vietnam, authorities said yesterday, as strong winds and high seas buffeted vessels off the country’s flood-hit central coast. Heavy rains have lashed Vietnam’s middle belt in recent weeks, flooding historic sites and popular holiday destinations, and causing hundreds of millions of dollars in damage. Authorities ordered boats to shore and diverted dozens of flights as Koto whipped up huge waves and dangerous winds, state media reported. Two vessels sank in the rough seas, a fishing boat in Khanh Hoa province and a smaller raft in Lam Dong, according to the
Sri Lanka made an appeal for international assistance yesterday as the death toll from heavy rains and floods triggered by Cyclone Ditwah rose to 123, with another 130 reported missing. The extreme weather system has destroyed nearly 15,000 homes, sending almost 44,000 people to state-run temporary shelters, the Sri Lankan Disaster Management Centre (DMC) said. DMC Director-General Sampath Kotuwegoda said relief operations had been strengthened with the deployment of thousands of troops from the country’s army, navy and air force. “We have 123 confirmed dead and another 130 missing,” Kotuwegoda told reporters in Colombo. Cyclone Ditwah was moving away from the island yesterday and
‘HEART IS ACHING’: Lee appeared to baffle many when he said he had never heard of six South Koreans being held in North Korea, drawing criticism from the families South Korean President Lee Jae-myung yesterday said he was weighing a possible apology to North Korea over suspicions that his ousted conservative predecessor intentionally sought to raise military tensions between the war-divided rivals in the buildup to his brief martial law declaration in December last year. Speaking to reporters on the first anniversary of imprisoned former South Korean president Yoon Suk-yeol’s ill-fated power grab, Lee — a liberal who won a snap presidential election following Yoon’s removal from office in April — stressed his desire to repair ties with Pyongyang. A special prosecutor last month indicted Yoon and two of his top
RSS