A Bangladesh publisher who worked with atheist writers has been hacked to death in the capital Dhaka, his father and police say, just hours after two secular bloggers and another publisher were attacked in a separate incident.
Faisal Arefin Dipan, 43, was killed in his third-floor office in central Dhaka, his father Abul Kashem Fazlul Haq, who is a noted Bangladesh intellectual and writer, told AFP on Saturday (local time).
"I saw him lying upside down and in a massive pool of blood. They slaughtered his neck. He is dead," he said.
The incident came just hours after unidentified assailants attacked two secular writers and another publisher, leaving one of them in a critical condition, according to police.
"He published the books of Avijit Roy. They also attacked other publishers of Roy but only my son died," Haq said.
Atheist writer and blogger Roy was hacked to death near a book fair in the capital Dhaka in February this year - the first in a series of attacks this year that have targeted atheist and secular bloggers in Bangladesh, leaving five dead.
Police inspector Mozammel Haq also confirmed Dipan's death.
Police said Dipan's father alerted officers after he could not reach him by phone.
"Officers entered his office and found him in a pool of blood. He was hacked in the neck and head," assistant commissioner of police Shiblee Noman told AFP.
Dipan owns Jagritee Publishers based at Aziz Supermarket, a hub for alternative and small publishers in Dhaka.
AFP
