Dhaka – A Hindu man was stabbed to death by unidentified assailants in central Bangladeshi district of Tangail on Saturday, police said.
The attacks came four days after two gay rights activist were hacked to death by suspected Islamists in the capital Dhaka.
In the latest attack, according to witnesses, three men riding a motorbike came to the tailoring shop owned by Nikhil Chandra Joardar, 50, and drag him out of the shop at Gopalpur sub-district.
Then they chopped Joardar on his head and neck leaving dead on the scene, police officer Abdul Jalil told newsnextbd.com quoting the local residents.
The crime scene is nearly 100 kilometres northwest of the capital Dhaka.
Mohammad Abdul Latif, a vice chairman of Gopalpur upazila, said that Joardar was arrested nearly two years ago for making derogatory comments on Islam and Prophet Muhammad.
But he was released on bail nearly after a month of his arrest. Since then he has been running the tailoring shop at Kalibari of the town.
“It is not clear whether his comment against Islam prompted the assailants to attack him,” said Latif.
Saleh Mohammad Tanvir, superintended of police in Tangail district, said the motive of the murder could not be known immediately.
“We have launched investigation into the murder,” said Tanvir.
The style of attack was similar to the recent attacks on the rights activists, university teacher and secularist bloggers, he believes.
Two gay rights activists were killed at an apartment in Dhaka by suspected Islamist militants on Monday while an English professor was hacked to death near his home in northern city of Rajshahi on April 23.
Five secularist bloggers and a publisher were killed in similar attacks in 2015 and 2015. Islamic State and Ansar al-Islam, an affiliate of al-Qaeda Indian Subcontinent chapter, claimed the credit of those attacks.
But, none has claimed the responsibility of the latest attack.
newsnextbd.com/n