A Bangladeshi-American blogger was hacked to death in Bangladesh while walking home with his wife after a book fair because his rhetoric was deemed a “crime against Islam,” a group claiming responsibility for the attack said.
Avijit Roy died Friday after members of Ansar Bangla 7 attacked the couple the previous night, The Associated Press reported. His wife, Rafida Ahmed, was seriously injured in the attack.
“I shouted for help from the people but nobody came to save him. No one came,” a witness to the attack told CNN.
Mr. Roy, who was also an engineer, “was the target because of his crime against Islam,” the Ansar Bangla 7 group said on its Twitter page, AP reported.
The writer was an atheist who ran the Bengali-language blog, Mukto-mona, or Free Mind, AP reported.
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Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu “expressed deep sorrow and sympathy at the untimely death,” CNN reported.
Police are investigating the group that claimed responsibility for the killing.
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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