A blogger has been hacked to death in the Bangladeshi
capital, Dhaka, a month after a prominent atheist writer was
killed in a similar attack.
Washiqur Rahman was attacked close to his home in Dhaka's
Begunbari area, a police official told AFP news agency.
Two students at an Islamic seminary have reportedly been
arrested.
Last month, Avijit Roy, a US-based writer who had criticised
religious intolerance, was killed in a machete attack while he
was visiting Dhaka.
His death sparked fresh concerns for freedom of speech in
Bangladesh, where several secular-minded writers have been
targeted by militants.
'Free thinker'
Mr Rahman was killed on a busy street in Dhaka. Two of the
suspected attackers, armed with meat cleavers, were caught
near the scene.
The suspects told police they had targeted Mr Rahman
because of his anti-Islamic writing, a police official told the
Associated Press news agency.
Mr Rahman blogged under a pen-name, Kucchit Hasher
Channa, or Ugly Duckling. According to the Dhaka Tribune
newspaper, he had criticised irrational religious beliefs.
Imran Sarker, the head of a network of activists and bloggers
in Bangladesh, told AFP news agency that Mr Rahman was "a
progressive free thinker".
Last month's attack on Mr Roy prompted massive protests
from students and social activists, who accused the
authorities of failing to protect critics of religious bigotry.
A man accused of threatening to kill Mr Roy on social media
was arrested in that case.
Farabi Shafiur Rahman, described as a "fundamentalist
blogger", was said by police to be linked to Islamist group
Hizb ut-Tahrir, which is banned in Bangladesh.
Mr Roy's wife was also badly injured in the attack.