DHAKA: The year 2015, the country faced huge criticism and condemnations for Killing of bogglers, writers, publishers and foreign nationals though it witnessed many groundbreaking achievements in attaining Millennium Development Goals (MDG), upgrading to lower-middle income country, roared into prominence in the Cricket World.
Murder of bloggers Avijit, Ananta, Niloy Neel and Wasikur, publisher Dipon are a few to mention, which created sensation both at home and abroad.
Banglanews.com looked back to just-passed year 2015 and brought a list of the major killing incidents throughout the year to its readers.
Here is our list:
Blogger Avijit murder
On February 26, blogger and also Atlanta-based engineer Avijit Roy was hacked dead on the Dhaka University campus. Avijit’s wife Rafida Ahmed Bonya survived the attack but lost a thumb.
Blogger Wasikur murder
On March 30, Washiqur Rahman Babu, a blogger, was hacked to death by miscreants in Tejgoan industrial area, Dhaka.
Ananta Bijoy Das murder
Secular blogger Ananta Bijoy Das, who also worked for a bank, was killed in a similar manner in Sylhet on May 12. He was the third of the four bloggers hacked to death this year.
Police claimed the banned militant group Ansarullah Bangla Team was behind the killing of the bloggers.
Blogger Niloy Neel murder
On August 8, a gang armed with machetes hacked a secular blogger to death at his home in Dhaka sparking protests in the capital over the fourth such murder in Bangladesh this year.
Niloy Chakrabarti, who used the pen-name Niloy Neel, was killed after the gang forced its way into his apartment.
Publisher Dipon murder
On 31 October, a publisher, Faisal Arefin Dipan (43), who worked with slain atheist writer and blogger Avijit Roy, was hacked to death by unidentified assailants in Dhaka, shortly after two secular bloggers and another publisher of Roy were attacked in a separate incident in the city.
Rajon, Rakib, Rabiul murders
A 13-year old boy, Samiul Alam Rajon, was brutally tortured to death for an alleged theft at Kumargaon in Sylhet on July 8.
On August 3, another 12-year-old Rakib was killed in Tootpara area in Khulna as he had begun to work at a different workshop.
Later on August 5, Rabiul Awal (10), a madrasah student and son of Dulal Mridha of Shonakata, was tortured to death at Amkhola village of Barguna district.
Later, six people were sentenced to death and five to varying terms of imprisonment for the brutal murders of Rajon in Sylhet and Rakib in Khulna.
A Sylhet court sentenced four people, including key accused Kamrul Islam, to death and one other to life term imprisonment for killing Rajon.
A Khulna court awarded the capital punishment to two people, including his former employer for torturing Rakib Hawlader to death.
Italian aid worker killing
On September 28, Italian national Cesare Tavella was shot dead by armed criminals in the capital's Gulshan diplomatic zone.
The victim was the project manager of Profitable Opportunities for Food Security, a program of ICCO Cooperation, a Netherlands-based NGO.
Japanese national murdered
On October 3, Japanese national Hoshi Konio was shot to death by masked assailants in Rangpur district within a week of killing an Italian aid worker in Dhaka.
Dead body of Japanese woman recovered
On November 24, police recovered body of a Japanese woman Hiyori Miyeta from Uttara residential area in Dhaka.
Later, police accused six men over the murder.
8 lynched in Naranganj
On December 10, eight suspected robbers of an inter-district robber gang were killed and three others injured in mass beating by mob at Purindabazar of Araihazar in Narayanganj district.
7-lyccnhed in Narsindi
On January 26, angry locals lynched at least seven suspected robbers in Bhatpara area under Sadar upazila of Narsingdi district.
Sensing the probable robbery, the villagers, being alerted by the public address system of mosque to catch the robbers, cordoned the area. At one stage, seven alleged robbers were killed in mob beating in the area.
BDST: 1742 HRS, DEC 31, 2015
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