An American atheist blogger was hacked to death on Thursday in the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka.

Two unidentified assailants attacked Avijit Roy and his wife Rafida Ahmed Bonna with machetes as the couple returned from a book fair, reports Agence France-Presse.

“He died as he was brought to the hospital. His wife was also seriously wounded. She has lost a finger,” said local police chief Sirajul Islam.

Roy, a Bangladesh-born U.S. citizen, had received multiple threats from Islamic fundamentalists in the past for his writings.

He founded Mukto-Mona, a secular blog that featured liberal writings from around the Muslim-majority nation. He had published several well-known books including Biswasher Virus (Virus of Faith).

There has been a string of attacks on secular writers and academics in the South Asian country. In 2013, atheist blogger Ahmed Rajib Haider was hacked to death by fundamentalists, sparking nationwide protests.

Hard-line Islamists in the country have long called for the slaying of writers critical of Islam.

Police have not yet identified the assailants but have launched an investigation and recovered the machetes used in the attack.

[AFP]

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Write to Helen Regan at helen.regan@timeasia.com.