Fourth Blogger Hacked to Death in Bangladesh
Posted: August 7, 2015 Filed under: Global, Mediasphere, Religion, War Room | Tags: Abu Dua, al Qaeda, Ansar al-Islam, Arab people, Ayman al Zawahiri, Bangladesh, Ceasefire, Islamic state, Taliban, Twitter Leave a comment
Killing sparks renewed fears of growing radicalization of Islamic fundamentalists
DHAKA, Bangladesh— Syed Zain Al-Mahmood reports: Another Bangladeshi blogger was hacked to death in Dhaka on Friday—the fourth such attack on writers who had been critical of Islam this year—raising renewed fears about growing radicalization in the South Asian country.
Police and family members said 40-year-old Niloy Chattopadhyay, who wrote under the pen name Niloy Neel, was killed by machete-wielding assailants who entered his home in the capital on Friday afternoon.
His wife, Asha Moni, said four men entered their two-room apartment under the pretext of renting a room and attacked her husband.
Krishnapada Roy, a joint commissioner of police in Dhaka, said the attack appeared to be “a targeted killing” and that police would pursue all leads.
Mr. Chattopadhyay is the fourth blogger critical of Islam to be murdered in Bangladesh this year. American-Bangladeshi writer Avijit Roy, who championed atheism through his Mukto-Mona [Freethinker] blog, was killed in a machete attack in February. Two other writers, both admirers of Mr. Roy, were killed by suspected Islamic militants in similar attacks in March and May.
The rise of religious extremism in Bangladesh, a Muslim-majority nation of 160 million people, could affect regional stability, analysts say.
In May, an al Qaeda group based in India claimed responsibility for the killing of Avijit Roy. Ansarullah Bangla Team, another militant outfit, claimed responsibility for the same killing shortly after the attack in a Twitter post
The Bangladeshi government has banned Ansarullah since then, but security analysts say such groups often change names or operate through loose alliances with other extremist outfits…..(read more)
Write to Syed Zain Al-Mahmood at zain.al-mahmood@wsj.com
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