Slain Bangladeshi blogger's wife files case against assailants

Dhaka, Aug 8: The wife of a slain Bangladeshi blogger known for his secular views has filed a case against the assailants, the media reported on Saturday. The victim, Niloy Chatterjee, 40, was killed on Friday when five unidentified assailants, suspected to be militants, armed with machetes entered his apartment in the city's Gorhan area where he lived with his family since the last two years. Chatterjee, was the fourth blogger killed in Bangladesh this year. His wife, Asha Moni pressed charges against the assailants at the Khilgaon Police Station late Friday night, a senior police official told bdnews24. Police said the murder was pre-planned. Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent’s (AQIS) ‘Bangladesh branch’ has purportedly claimed responsibility for the attack. The UN, US, and the Amnesty International have condemned the killing and called upon the authorities to bring the killers to justice. The other three bloggers -- Avijit Roy, Oyasiqur Rahman Babu, Ananta Bijoy Das -- were also killed in a similar manner. Radical group Ansaruallah Bangla Team’s two suspected wings - Ansar Bangla 7 and Ansar Bangla 8 - had also claimed responsibility on social media for the deaths of the secular bloggers whom it described as 'blasphemers'.