A Bangladeshi law student, who posted comments against radical Islamists on Facebook, was hacked by machete-wielding militants before being shot dead from close range here, the latest in a series of brutal attacks on secular bloggers and activists in the Muslim majority country.
Nazimuddin Samad, 28, a masters student of the state-run Jagannath University’s law department, was killed by suspected Islamist militants in Old Dhaka’s Sutrapur area on Wednesday night.
He had been on a hit list of 84 atheist bloggers that a group of radical Islamists prepared and sent to Bangladesh’s Interior Ministry. Samad was attacked by three assailants on a busy road while walking to his home in Gendaria with another youth after completing classes at the university near Bahadur Shah Park.
While murdering Samad, the killers shouted Allah-o-Akbar (God is Great), witnesses said. The youth accompanying the victim has been missing since the incident, a police official said. “They initially hacked him and then fired gunshots to confirm his death,” he added.
Samad, who hailed from Sylhet, was the information and research secretary of Sylhet district unit of Bangabandhu Jatiya Jubo Parishad. He was also an activist of Gonojagoron Moncho’s Sylhet wing.