Third blogger Ananta Bijoy Das hacked to death in Bangladesh

A blogger was hacked to death by assailants using machetes in Bangladesh on Tuesday, the third attack in less than three months on a critic of religious extremism in the Muslim-majority nation. The killing has taken place after the brutal murders of writers Avijit Roy and Oyashiqur Rahman.

Ananta Bijoy Das, a blogger who advocated secularism, was attacked by four assailants in northeastern Sylhet district on Tuesday morning, senior police official Mohammad Rahamatullah told Reuters. Rahamatullah said Das was a 33-year-old banker.

According to Dhaka Tribune, Das was an organiser of local Gonojagoron Moncho and was the the editor of science based Magazine Jukti (logic). He contributed to the Muktomona blog site, which was run by the late Avijit Roy.

He was awarded Mukto-Mona Rationalist Award. and has authored many books such as Parthib, Darwin: Ekhush Shatake Prasongikota Ebong Bhabna, Soviet Union-E Bigyan O Biplob: Lisenko Odday etc, the report said. He was known to be critival of fundamentalist thoughts in his writings.

With inputs from agencies