Former U.S. embassy official hacked to death in capital

Just two days after the murder of Rajshahi University professor, two including Former U.S. Embassy official were hacked to death in capital. The incident took place inside the murdered person’s residence at capital Dhaka’s Kalabagan by unidentified assailants. One of the victims was identified as staff of USAID named Xulhaz Mannan and another one was identified as Mahbub Tonoy, 26, a private university student and a dramatist.

Xulhaz worked as a Political Process Analyst at the USAID, 35 years old, and was also the editor of ‘Roopbaan’, the only magazine of the country working with different prospects for the rights of the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) community. Earlier, Xulhaz also worked as a protocol officer of former US ambassador Dan Mozena for a long time.

An assistant sub-inspector of police and the security guard of that building were also injured while the attack was carried out by a group of five to six assailants around 5 pm. The police officer, Momtaz was hacked when he ran after the murderers and tried to capture them. He was taken for treatment to the nearest local hospital and the security guard, Parvez Mollah, who was also hacked by the miscreants, was admitted to Dhaka DMC with stab wounds above his left eye.

The murder came out as an annoying answer to the declaration of the Home Minister, Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal as he claimed few hours ago that the situation of Bangladesh is absolutely fine and under control in comparison to other countries.

During the festivals and celebrations of Bengali New Year, Xulhaz was participating at the Rainbow Rally which has been conducted since 2014, but the police banned the rally for security protection this year and the rally could not proceed.

Ahead of the banned rally earlier this month, Xulhaz told AFP that they had received threats from Islamists, who posted messages online. “They have even set up an online group to threaten us,” he told the news agency.

Yesterday’s killing mission lasted about five minutes, and the assailants chanted ‘Allahu Akbar’ while hacking the two and also while leaving the scene, said neighbors.

Parvez, the injured security guard, told reporters at the DMCH that, three young men dressed identically approached the gate of the seven-storied building and identified themselves as employees of a courier service company and they said that, they wanted to deliver two packages to Xulhaz. They went on to deliver the packages and committed the crime before running out of the house.

Mohammed Iqbal, officer-in-charge of Kalabagan Police Station told that, they are suspecting involvement of militants in this killing.

In the last few months, the country has been facing several numbers of attacks; casualties and murder based on the religious issues and the symptom of these attacks are quite the same, though the government is refusing the existence of Islamist Militant in Bangladesh. The government body denied the actual fact by noting these incidents as isolated conflicts. But the fact is, brutal killings are all time high in occurrence in today’s Bangladesh and the law enforcers are brutally silent. The government must address this issue immediately by ensuring punishment for these crimes at quickest possible time.