25 October 2004	Monday	10 Ramazan 1425

DHAKA, Oct 24: A journalist working for an English-language daily newspaper was shot dead Sunday in Dhaka, police said.

The unidentified attackers opened fire on Shahid Anwar, a sub-editor at the Daily Asian Express, and he was declared dead after being rushed to hospital, police said.

Anwar was travelling to his office by rickshaw when the attackers started shooting.

"We're investigating the motive for the death," police sub-inspector Riazul Islam said.

There was no immediate comment available from Anwar's office.

International media watchdogs have ranked Bangladesh one of the most dangerous countries for journalists. Analysts say its confrontational style of politics is to blame for putting journalists' lives at risk.

An editor of a newspaper in the north-western city of Bogra was killed in early October by five axe-wielding youths whom police said appeared to be hired killers.

Since 1997 at least seven Bangladeshi journalists have been killed, the Paris-based media watchdog Reporters Without Borders said earlier this year.

It described Bangladesh as "by far the world's most violent country for journalists," saying at least 26 reporters had been attacked or threatened in January alone.-AFP