Militants suspected for RU teacher Rezaul Karim’s murder

Police suspect involvement of Islamist radicals in the murder of Rajshahi University teacher AFM Rezaul Karim Siddiquee.

“Professor Rezaul (Siddiquee) has been killed in the same way that the bloggers and online activists were slain. That leads to the suspicion that this might be the handiwork of radicals,” Rajshahi Metropolitan Police chief Md Shamsudduin told reporters at the scene of the crime.

Witnesses said assailants on a motorcycle slashed Siddiquee's neck around 7:30am within 50 yards of his residence in the city’s Boalia area.

No one, including his family members, are aware of threats that the English professor may have received recently.

Boalia police station OC Shahdat Hossain said that Siddiquee was attacked while he was on his way to catch a bus for the university campus.

The recent killings of bloggers and online activists as well as foreigners were pulled off in a similar manner — using sharp weapons and targeting the head or neck.

Islamic State (IS) reportedly claimed the killings of the two foreigners — Italian aid worker Cesare Tavella in Dhaka and Japanese national Kunio Hoshi in the northern district of Rangpur.

Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) has reportedly claimed the murder of bloggers.

Security officials, however, claimed that local Islamist radicals were behind the murders and that messages from IS and AQIS were to cover the trial and confuse investigations and also claim presence where they did not have one.

Two years ago, another Rajshahi University teacher AKM Shafiul Islam was similarly murdered.

Though his murder was claimed by Islamist radicals police later ruled it out saying it was a sequel to a personal rivalry.

Meanwhile, Rajshahi University English department students took out a procession on the campus on Saturday protesting the killing.

The RU teachers’ association has convened an emergency meeting scheduled for Saturday evening, to decide on protests, said the association’s president Md Shahidullah.