Bangladesh doctor hacked to death, teacher wounded

The attack bears similarities to the recent murders of bloggers and secular activists.

Unidentified assailants hacked a homeopathy doctor to death and badly injured a university professor in western Kushtia town in Bangladesh.

Sanaur Rahman (60), a homeopathy doctor, was riding a motorcycle with his friend Saif uz-Zaman, an assistant professor of Bengali department at the Kusthia’s Islami University, on Friday morning when they were attacked by at least three men, also on a motorbike. Mr. Zaman was shifted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital in a critical condition.

The latest attack bears similarities to the recent murders of bloggers and secular activists in the country, but the police did not confirm whether radical Islamists were behind the incident. According to some reports, the middle-aged doctor used to arrange Baul musical concerts. The mystical musical tradition is popular in Kusthia.

Bangladesh's “mystic minstrels” or Bauls have long been dismissed as hippies and even killed after being branded heretics by religious extremists.

Meanwhile, a youth died and another was injured in a bomb explosion in the Kushtia. Their identities could not be immediately known.

Planned attacks

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said the recent killings had been planned to foil the country’s trials of war crimes. Speaking to expatriate Bangladeshis in the Bulgarian capital, Sofia, on Thursday, she said: “Whatever some isolated incidents are taking place are planned ones. Whenever the trial of any war criminal heads towards the final stage, some quarters get engaged in killings. But we’ve already started catching the culprits and they’ll be brought to justice surely.”

Ms. Hasina said her government was committed to ensuring security of all citizens, irrespective of their caste and creed. The government had begun the trials of the ‘recent murders’.

Meanwhile, authorities issued a red alert at all airports and land ports to prevent alleged Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT) operatives from leaving the country. Dhaka Metropolitan Police released photos of six ABT members and put bounties on them, claiming they were involved in the recent killings of the bloggers and writers.

( With inputs from AFP )