People stage demo against latest killings in Bangladesh

People in Bangladesh have held a demonstration to express their anger at the latest killings of writers and publishers, saying the government has failed to halt a fresh wave of violence in the South Asian country.

Several hundred teachers, students, writers and other protesters gathered at the University of Dhaka in the capital on Sunday.

The event came one day after a gang of men carrying machetes and cleavers hacked to death Faisal Arefin Dipon, a publisher of secular books, at his office in Dhaka.

Two bloggers along with publisher Ahmedur Rashid Tutul were also wounded in a separate assault in the capital on Saturday.

The militant group, al-Qaeda in the Indian Sub-Continent, has claimed responsibility for Saturday’s attacks.

The first such incident in Bangladesh occurred back in February, when blogger Avijit Roy was killed while walking home from a book fair.

Samina Lutfa, a university teacher, also called on people to “come out on the street and protest these killings.”

“It’s a failure of the government that it has not been able to prosecute the killers,” said Imran Sarker, the head of a bloggers’ group, which organized Sunday’s demonstration, adding, “There is a climate of impunity in which these militants now operate brazenly.”

Over the past two years, militant groups have targeted Muslims, Hindus and Christians in Bangladesh.

On October 24, a bomb attack rocked Hussaini Dalan, the most important prayer and congregation site for Bangladesh’s minority Shia community in Dhaka. The incident left at least one person dead and dozens of others injured.

The bombing came just weeks after an Italian aid worker and a Japanese farmer were shot dead in Bangladesh. The attacks were both claimed by the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group.