Bangladeshi Blogger Hacked To Death For Criticizing The Islamic Religion

32-year old atheist blogger, Ananta Bijoy Das was killed this morning as he left his home on his way to work as attacks on bloggers critical of Islam takes on a disturbing regularity in Bangladesh - Police in the northeastern Bangladeshi city of Sylhet has said. Four masked men attacked him, hacking him to death with cleavers and machetes, said Sylhet Metropolitan Police Commissioner Kamrul Ahsan.

The men then ran away. Because of the time of the morning when the attack happened, there were few witnesses. But police say they are following up on interviewing the few people who saw the incident.

"It's one after another after another, It's the same scenario again and again. It's very troubling." said Imran Sarker, who heads the Blogger and Online Activists Network in Bangladesh.

Das' death was at least the third this year of someone who was killed for online posts critical of Islam. In each case, the attacks were carried out publicly on city streets.

In March, 27-year old Washiqur Rahman, was hacked to death by two men with knives and meat cleavers just outside his house as he headed to work at a travel agency in the capital, Dhaka.

In February, a Bangladesh-born American blogger, Avijit Roy, was similarly killed with machetes and knives as he walked back from a book fair in Dhaka.

The three victims are hardly the only ones who have paid a steep price for their views. In the last two years, several bloggers have died, either murdered or under mysterious circumstances.

Source: CNN.com