Doctor hacked to death in Bangladesh, friend wounded

Dhaka - Daesh has claimed responsibility.

A doctor has been hacked to death and his friend critically wounded in the latest of several attacks in Bangladesh, police said Friday.
Local police chief Proloy Chisim said the two were hit Friday by machete-wielding attackers who fled on a motorbike in the western district of Kushtia.
Daesh has claimed responsibility.
The recent killings by suspected Daesh have heightened concerns about the safety of advocates of secularism and free speech in Bangladesh.
Police officer Chisim said 60-year-old Rahman and the second victim, Mohammed Saifuzzman, were intercepted at a quiet place near Kushtia town by three attackers. The area is nearly 260 kilometers (160 miles) west of the capital, Dhaka.
Rahman and Saifuzzman were good friends.
Police quoted local people as saying that the attackers hacked them with sharp weapons. Police recovered a machete from the scene of the attack.
Rahman was known to villagers as a kind doctor who provided free treatment and medicines to the poor people.
Saifuzzaman teaches at the state-run Islamic University and is known to friends as a secular man. In January, he returned home after completing his doctorate on Baul philosophy from an Indian university.