Activist, editor of Bangladesh's only LGBT magazine hacked to death

Xulhaz Mannan.
(Image credit: Twitter.com/AMYPINKmag)

A Bangladeshi gay rights activist was murdered Monday in Dhaka by suspected Islamist militants. (UPDATE: Al Qaeda affiliate Ansar-al Islam claimed credit for the attack early Tuesday.)

State Department spokesman John Kirby said Mannan was a "staunch defender of LGBT rights." There have been several knife attacks against liberal activists and members of minority Muslim sects in Bangladesh, and two days ago, the Islamic State took credit for an attack that left a university professor dead. The Dhaka detective told NBC News that a man pretending to have a delivery for Mannan summoned him to the entrance of his apartment building. Once Mannan and his friend arrived, five other men rushed out and attacked them. A guard was injured when he tried to help.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.