Murdered Bangladeshi Bloggers

A Bangladeshi blogger known for his atheist views has been hacked to death by a gang armed with machetes in the capital Dhaka. Niloy Neel was attacked at his home in the city's Goran area. He is the fourth secularist blogger to have been killed this year by suspected Islamist militants in Bangladesh. Mr Neel had filed a police report expressing fear for his life, but his complaints had not been followed up. Police said about six attackers had tricked their way into Mr Neel's home by saying they were looking to rent a flat. Two of them then took him to a room and then slaughtered him there. His wife was in the flat but she was confined to another room.

A secular blogger has been hacked to death in north-eastern Bangladesh in the country's third such deadly attack since the start of the year. Ananta Bijoy Dash was attacked by masked men with machetes in Sylhet, police say. He is said to have received death threats from Islamist extremists. Mr Das wrote blogs for Mukto-Mona, a website once moderated by Avijit Roy, himself hacked to death in February. Sweden has confirmed it turned down a visa request from Mr Dash in April. He had been invited to attend a press freedom event by the Swedish Pen writers organisation but officials in the country's embassy in Dhaka refused the request, citing a risk he might not return home.

Washiqur Rahman was attacked close to his home in Dhaka's Begunbari area. Two students at an Islamic seminary have reportedly been arrested. Mr Rahman was killed on a busy street in Dhaka. Two of the suspected attackers, armed with meat cleavers, were caught near the scene. The suspects told police they had targeted Mr Rahman because of his anti-Islamic writing.

In his writings, author Avijit Roy yearned for reason and humanism guided by science. He had no place for religious dogma, including from Islam, the main religion of his native Bangladesh. Extremists resented him for openly and regularly criticizing religion in his blog. They threatened to kill him if he came home from the United States to visit. On Thursday, someone did. As he walked back from the book fair, assailants plunged machetes and knives into Roy and his wife, killing him and leaving her bloodied and missing a finger. Afterward, an Islamist group "Ansar Bangla-7" reportedly tweeted, "Target Down here in Bangladesh."

Blogger Ahmed Rajib Haider’s throat was slit after he was hacked to death by the attackers. His body was found in front of his house at Polashnagar in Mirpur. Rajib was one of the organisers of the Shahbagh protest that turned 12-day-old on the day of his murder Protesters believe Rajib became the target of fundamentalists for his interpretations of Islam from the standpoint of a self-proclaimed atheist.