Attacks by Islamic extremists in Bangladesh

In 2015, Islamic extremists killed four bloggers and a publisher in Bangladesh. A report by the Committee to Protect Journalists said Bangladesh was the fourth most deadly country for journalists.^[1]

In 2013, a local al-Qaeda group called Ansarullah Bengali Team had a list of 84 names of people it wanted silenced. By 2015, 8 of them were dead: Avajit Roy, Rajeeb Haider, Jafar Munshi, Mamun Hossain, Jagatjyoti Talukder, Arif Hossain Dwip, Ziauddin Zakaria Babu and Wasikur Rahman.^[2]

Jafar Munshi ( জাফর মুন্সি ) and Anjali Devi ( অঞ্জলী দেবীর ) were killed for supposed "defamation of religion", such as refusing to enforce hijab on students. Some of the people murdered were supporter of the Shahbag movement (শাহবাগ আন্দোলন ) named for the Shahbag (শাহবাগ) district: Ashraful Alam (আশরাফুল আলম ), Arif Raihan Deep (আরিফ রায়হান দীপ ), Nurul Islam Faruki (নুরুল ইসলাম ফারুকী), Jagat Jyoti Talukder (জগৎজ্যোতি তালুকদার ), and Jakaria Babu (জাকারিয়া বাবু ).^[3]

1. ↑ "Why this year has been deadly for bloggers in Bangladesh". 31 December 2015.
2. ↑ "84 on hitlist, 8 killed: Dhaka's politics drives cycle of death". 17 April 2015.
3. ↑ "Joint open letter to Prime Minister and President of Bangladesh - IHEU". 18 August 2015.