Friday's attack comes amid a wave of murders of liberal, secular activists and religious minorities by suspect Islamist militants in Bangladesh. a Buddhist monk was hacked to death last Saturday while an atheist student, two gay rights activists, a liberal professor, a Hindu tailor and a Sufi Muslim leader have also been murdered since last month. IS and a Bangladeshi branch of al-Qaeda have said they carried out several of the killings. But the secular government in Dhaka denies that the two extremist group are behind the attacks, blaming homegrown militants.