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              US Offers Help in Bangladesh Blogger's Murder Probe

   by Wayne Lee

   The United States has offered its resources and expertise to the
   Bangladeshi government as Dhaka investigates the latest in a series of
   murders of secular bloggers in the Muslim-majority country.

   "We've offered assistance to the Bangladeshi government, collaboration
   on the investigations, FBI assistance," State Department spokesman Mark
   Toner told reporters Monday in Washington.

   He was commenting after last week's killing of Nazimuddin Samad, a
   blogger and postgraduate student who often criticized radical Islam and
   promoted secularism in Bangladesh.

   "These are horrific attacks. We urge the Bangladeshi authorities to
   take them very seriously," Toner added.

   International defenders of freedom of expression have accused the
   Bangladeshi government of not doing enough to stop the attacks. At
   least six bloggers and a secular publisher have been killed since 2013.

   A Bangladeshi government official has said a domestic militant group
   may be responsible for Samad's murder, although a group affiliated with
   al-Qaida has claimed responsibility.

   Samad was hacked with machetes and shot by motorcycle-riding assailants
   as he returned from class at Jagannath University in Dhaka. No arrests
   have been made, but police said people heard the attackers shouting,
   "Allahu Akbar," meaning "God is great," as they fled the scene.

   Samad was on a hit list of 84 atheist bloggers that a radical Islamist
   group compiled and sent to Bangladesh's Interior Ministry.
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References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/us-offers-help-bangladesh-blogger-murder-probe/3282803.html