Dhaka: Condemning the barbaric killing of LGBTI rights activist Xulhaz Mannan and his friend Mahbub Tonoy in Dhaka, the European Union (EU) has demanded effective investigation into the incident to bring the perpetrators under justice.

A spokesperson of European Commission from Brussels said: ‘Thorough investigations into these killings need to take place to ensure those responsible are brought to justice.’

‘With the killings of a law student on 6 April  and of an English language professor on 23 April, this is already the third violent attack in Bangladesh in less than a month,’ he added.

EU also expressed their deepest condolence to the families of the victims and wished a speedy recovery to the injured.

EU, a politico-economic union of 28 member states that are located primarily in Europe, expects that the government of Bangladesh will take necessary steps to ensure freedom of expression as a fundamental human right and to promote respect.

Earlier on Monday evening, USAID staff Xulhaz Mannan, who is an editor of lesbian-gay-bisexual-transgender (LGBT) magazine Roopbaan, and his friend Tanoy, an activist of theatre group Loknatya Dal, was hacked to death by some unidentified miscreants at an apartment in the capital’s Kalabagan area.

The incident happened two days into the killing of Rajshahi University teacher Prof Rezaul Karim in Rajshahi city’s Shalbagan area in the same style while Nazimuddin Samad, a law student of Jagannath University (JnU), was hacked to death by unidentified assailants at Ikrampur in old Dhaka city on 6 April.