Miscreants hack to death two people in Dhaka’s Kalabagan

Unknown assailants have hacked two men to death inside a house in capital Dhaka’s Kalabagan, two days after a Rajshahi University teacher was murdered in similar fashion near his home.

One of the victims of the Monday attack has been identified as USAID programme officer Xulhaz Mannan, 35, a cousin of former foreign minister Dipu Moni.

Mannan had also worked as a protocol officer at the US embassy in Dhaka.

Better known for his gay-rights activism, Mannan also edited ‘Roopban’, the first magazine in the country advocating for the rights of transgenders.

The murders took place inside ‘Asia Nibas’, a six-storey building on Lake Circus Road, around 5pm, DMP Assistant Commissioner (AC) Ruhul Amin Sagar told bdnews24.com.

The incident occurred hours after Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal said Saturday’s murder of the university teacher in Rajshahi City and the killing of a retired prisons guard in Gazipur on Monday morning were ‘isolated incidents’ and the people should not feel insecure.

AC Sagar identified the other victim as one ‘Tonoy’. Police think he was Mannan’s friend. But details were unavailable.

Mannan lived in a flat on the first floor of Asia Nibas. At least six men raided his home around 5pm and hacked Mannan and another person with sharp weapons, security guard ‘Sumon’ told bdnews24.com.

He said the assailants, while fleeing, hacked another guard named Parvez Molla.

Sumon later admitted Molla to Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH).

Molla received a sharp weapon wound on the left side of his forehead.

Quoting residents of the area, several TV stations reported that the assailants had also hacked one policeman when they were leaving the scene.

Police could not immediately say who the killers were.