Police say unidentified attackers have hacked a prominent US blogger to death in Bangladesh’s capital, Dhaka.
Police on Friday said that Avijit Roy, a Bangladesh-born US citizen, known for this writing against religious fundamentalism, and wife Rafida Ahmed, were attacked after a visit to a book fair at Dhaka University.
Ahmed, also a blogger, sustained severe injuries in Thursday’s attack.
Sirajul Islam, a local police chief, told The Associated Press news agency the assailants used cleavers to attack the couple.
“Several attackers took part in the attack and at least two assailants hit them directly,” Islam said, adding that two blood-stained cleavers were found after the attack.
Roy had founded a popular Bengali-language blog – Mukto-mona, or Free Mind – in which articles on scientific reasoning and religious extremism featured prominently.
It was not known who was behind the attack, but Roy’s family and friends say he was a prominent voice against religious fanatics and has faced threats in the past.
Anujit Roy, his younger brother, says Roy had returned to the country earlier this month and was planning to return there next month.
Similar attacks have previously taken place in Bangladesh.
Investigators have said religious fanatics were behind those attacks. In 2013, another blogger, Ahmed Rajib Haider, who also spoke out against religious fanatics, was killed by unidentified assailants near his home in Dhaka.
