Bangladesh vows to ‘hunt down’ blogger’s killers

His posts often were critical of Islam.

Niloy Neel was murdered after the gang broke into his apartment in the capital’s Goran neighbourhood, according to the Bangladesh Blogger and Activist Network which was alerted to the attack by a witness.

Secular Bangladeshi blogger Niloy Chowdhury (Niloy Neel) was hacked to death by unidentified assailants on Friday after he reportedly published posts that irked radical Islamic groups. He also routinely posted on women’s and minority rights, communal violence and the oppression of Hindus in Bangladesh.

On the killing of blogger Niloy Chakrabarty Neel, Hoque said police were investigating it “with top priority”. He was killed in his apartment Friday afternoon by a group of five or six men, the spokesman said.

Meanwhile, a team of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of the US met detectives in Dhaka yesterday.

The dead journalist had contributed to the humanist blogging platform Mukto-Mona.

Amnesty worldwide said the government had to do more to stop what it called “this spate of savage killings”.

“There is little doubt that these especially brutal killings are designed to sow fear and to have a chilling effect on free speech”, stated David Griffiths, the South Asia research director. “This is unacceptable”.

The victim’s family said his real name was Niloy Chottopadhay and that he used a different name on social media.

She filed a murder case against four unnamed persons, police official Zahidur Rahman said Saturday, but no arrests have been made so far.

Neel’s death is part of a highly disturbing trend. Das succumbed to his wounds in a hospital. In May, secular blogger Ananta Bijoy Das was killed by masked, machete-wielding men in Sylhet after receiving death threats from Islamist extremists.

In Feburary, Avijit Roy was hacked to death on the Dhaka University campus while walking with his wife.

Hours after the gruesome attack, Ansar-Al-Islam, the Bangladesh chapter of Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent, had claimed responsibility for the killing, terming the 40-year-old blogger an enemy of Allah.

The most recent incident has garnered worldwide outrage, with the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon denouncing the secular blogger murders.

The body of the slain blogger was handed over to a relative after the autopsy, and was later taken to his village, where his last rites would be performed.

“It is vital to ensure the identification of those responsible for this and the previous horrendous crimes, as well as those who may have masterminded the attacks”, they said.