A Bangladeshi publisher of secular books has been hacked to death in Dhaka on Saturday.
Faisal Arefin Dipon, 43, was killed at his office in the city centre, hours after another publisher and two secular writers were injured in an attack.
Al-Qaeda’s Bangladeshi affiliate – Ansar al-Islam – posted messages online saying it had carried out Saturday’s attacks.
There has been a series of attacks on secularists since blogger Avijit Roy was hacked to death in February.
Both publishers targeted on Saturday published Roy’s work.
Mr Dipon was found dead at the Jagriti Prokashoni publishing house, in his third-floor office.
Earlier on Saturday, armed men burst into the offices of publisher Ahmedur Rashid Tutul.
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They stabbed Mr Tutul and two writers who were with him, locked them in an office and fled the scene, police said.
The three men were rushed to hospital, and at least one of them is in a critical condition.
The two writers were named by police as Ranadeep Basu and Tareque Rahim.
Bangladesh is currently ruled by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina of the Awami League party, who is renowned for her brutal crack down of Islamic groups, whilst allowing Prophet Muhammad (saw) to be regularly defamed by atheist bloggers and secular pro-regime media outlets.
