A local official of the USAID in Bangladesh and his friend were stabbed dead in Dhaka’s Kalabagan area Monday evening.
Zulhaz Mannan, the USAID staff, worked as a protocol officer of former U.S. ambassador Dan Mozena, it was learnt. Mannan,35, who was reportedly a cousin of former Bangladesh Foreign Minister Dr Dipu Moni, was also the editor of Roopbaan , the country’s first ever LGBT magazine. His friend is Tanay Mojumdar.
The double murder took place in a second floor of a six-storey building only two days after the grisly murder of Rajshahi University professor Rezaul Karim Siddiquee in the northern city of Rajshahi.
Like >killings of several bloggers and free thinkers in the recent times , the international militant group IS claimed responsibility of the professor’s murder, reported the U.S.-based SITE Intelligence Group. But the law enforcers as well as the government denied organizational presence of the IS in the country.
Mannan lived in a flat on the first floor of the building. Local TV channels quoting a security guard reported that at least six men raided his home this evening and hacked Mannan and his friend with sharp weapons. The assailants, while fleeing, hacked a guard of the building. Several TV stations also reported that the assailants had also hacked one policeman when they were leaving the scene.
Police officers said the attackers tricked the victims by saying that they are from courier service carrying a packet for Mr Mannan. The murders took place in front of a residential building around 6:15 p.m., Dhaka Metropolitan Police officer Ruhul Amin Sagar said.
Police could not immediately ascertain who were behind the attack or what their motive was. But a section of the local media quoted officer-in-charge of Kalabagan Police station, said they suspect the involvement of militants in the killing.
