DHAKA, Feb 16: A blogger who had been critical of Bangladesh’s religious groups was killed in the capital late on Friday, police said, a day after he attended a big rally against leaders of the country's largest Islamic party.

Protests championed by the country's bloggers have seen thousands of people take to the streets demanding the execution of leaders of the Jamaat-i-Islami party who are under trial for war crimes.

Police found the body of Ahmed Rajib, known by his online identity Thaba Baba, near his home in Dhaka's Pallabi suburb, with his head hacked apart with a machete.

“We recovered the machete. It is clear the attacker wanted to murder him. They did not touch his laptop or other valuable objects,” police official Sheikh Motiur Rahman said.

Rajib's brother said his sibling had been “threatened frequently” by religious groups angry at his role in the protests and his writings against extremism.—AFP