Suspected militants hack kill Bangladeshi professor

A police official told reporters that suspected militants brutally murdered a University professor on Saturday in northwestern Bangladesh.

At least two assailants rode up on a motorcycle and attacked Rezaul Karim Siddiquee, an English professor at Rajshahi University, slitting his throat and hacking him to death, said police official Golam Sackline.

"We are investigating the killing. The pattern of the murder was similar to other latest attacks by militants," Sackline said.

His brother Sajidul Karim Siddique said the professor was a "very quiet and simple man," focused on studying and teaching. He is head of a cultural group and editor literary magazine.

"So far as we know, he did not have any known enemies and we never found him worried," he said. "We don't know why it happened to him."

Bangladesh government has been cracking down on militants groups. The government accuses the opposition of supporting religious radicals in an attempt to retaliate against the government for prosecuting suspected war crimes during the country's 1971 independence war.

Some of the recent attacks were claimed by DAESH but the government dismisses those claims and says the terrorist group has no presence in Bangladesh.