Bangladesh: Islamist militant who attacked Hindu teacher killed in shootout

A suspected Islamist militant was killed on Saturday in a shootout, police said, days after he critically wounded a Hindu college teacher in the latest attack on minority groups.

Ghulam Faijullaha Fahim, 19, who was in police custody, was shot when officers took him with them to help capture his associates, said Sarwar Hossain, police chief of Madaripur, 70 km (44 miles) south of the capital, Dhaka. He was caught in crossfire that erupted after people started shooting at the police, he said, adding that Fahim was dead on arrival at a hospital.

Mathematics teacher Ripon Chakraborty was attacked on Wednesday by Fahim and two other knife-wielding assailants when he answered the doorbell at his home. Fahim was caught by people who rushed to the rescue of the screaming teacher and his family, and was handed over to the police. He told them the attack had been planned by members of the banned militant group Hizb ut-Tahrir.

Militants have killed more than 30 people since early last year, ranging from atheist bloggers and liberal academics to gay rights campaigners, foreign aid workers, members of minority Muslim sects and other religious groups.