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.
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