Bangladesh: Prominent outspoken writer, publisher Shahzahan Bachchu shot dead
A prominent Bangladeshi writer and publisher, Shahzahan Bachchu, has been shot dead by unidentified attackers in central Bangladesh. Bachchu, an outspoken proponent of secular principles and owner of a publishing house "Bishaka Prokashoni" that specialized in publishing poetry, was dragged out of a shop gunned down in his ancestral village Kakaldi in Munshiganj district last evening by five assailants. Here's more.
Bachchu had gone to meet friends before Iftar
According to a report by the Dhaka Tribune, Bachchu had gone to meet friends at a pharmacy shop near his home before Iftar, when the five attackers on two motorcycles came into the area. They blasted a crude bomb outside the pharmacy, creating panic. They then dragged Shahzahan out of the shop and shot him, a senior superintendent of police said.
Police suspect Islamist extremists behind the killing
Although no group has claimed responsibility, police officials from the counter-terrorism department are investigating the murder as a possible targeted attack by Islamist extremists. Bachchu had previously received threats from extremist groups due to his outspoken support for secularism. Bachchu was a former district general secretary of the Communist Party of Bangladesh. His publishing house Bishaka is based in Dhaka's Banglabazar.
Deaths of secular writers, publisher in Bangladesh
Deaths of secular writers, bloggers, and a publisher in attacks by suspected Islamist militants shook Bangladesh for months after the murder of atheist writer Avijit Roy in Dhaka on February 26, 2015. Avijit's publisher Faisal Arefin Dipan was also murdered on October 31 the same year. Militant groups claimed responsibility for most attacks and the law enforcers arrested many radical Islamists in this connection.
