Islamist group claims RU teacher killing responsibility

A group named 'Ansar al Islam Bangladesh-2' has claimed responsibility for the killing of Rajshahi University (RU) teacher AKM Shafiul Islam. The Sociology Department's teacher came under attack by several youths carrying sharp weapons in front of Bihashpalli on Saturday afternoon. He suffered grave injuries on his head and shoulder, and died at Rajshahi Medical College Hospital. The group's Facebook page, which was opened around 5 hours after the grisly murder, says: 'Our Mujahideens (fighters) executed a 'Murtad' (apostate) today in Rajshahi who had prohibited female students in his department to wear 'Burka' (veil).' The page shows a picture of the slain teacher with a red X-mark on it. Below it is written in Bangla: 'AKM Shafiul Islam (file closed)/ Offence: Apr, 2010/ Punishment: Nov, 2014.' It follows with an English statement: 'We don't forget. Insha Allah, we will not forget others.' The group's Facebook page also names who these 'others' are. The page carries the photographs of five people. Three of them are those of RU teacher Islam, murdered blogger Rajib Haider, and one Ashraful Islam. They are marked with red 'X' marks, and captioned: 'finished'. The other two pictures are of bloggers Asif Mohiuddin and Rakib Mamun. The caption for them says: 'First attempt: completed; second attempt: coming soon.' The page also issues a threat, reading: 'Beware all the Islam opposing atheists-apostate!!!', according to bdnews24.com.