Unidentified assailants hacked and shot a Jagannath University student to death in the capital's Hrishikesh Das Lane last night.

Nazimuddin Samad, 26, was a law student, said Dr Mizanur Rahman, vice chancellor of the university.

The gun and machete attack happened around 8:00pm, when the victim was walking on the road with a classmate, Sohel, said Tapan Kumar Saha, officer-in-charge of Sutrapur Police Station. 

The motive of the murder was not clear, but the wounds from hacking had similarities with those sustained by bloggers and free-thinkers, who came under attacks by suspected militants in recent months.

Sohel, who was being quizzed by law enforcers, told police that a group of four to five assailants came near them in guise of bystanders and melted into the crowd after the attack.

Locals rushed critically injured Nazim to Mitford Hospital, where doctors pronounced him dead.

Originally from Bianibazar in Sylhet, he was an LLM student of the evening shift, said the VC.

Asked about possible militant link, the OC said they were yet to ascertain any motive or link.

According to Nazim's Facebook page, he was the information and research affairs secretary of Bangabandhu Jatiya Juba Parishad, Sylhet.

Debashish Debu, spokesperson for Sylhet Gonojagoron Mancha, said he did not know Nazim personally but activists of the platform told him that he used to join the Gonojagoron Mancha programmes whenever he went to Sylhet.

Going through his Facebook timeline last night, it was seen that his friends, many of whom are bloggers, expressed outrage over the murder.

Debjyoti Debu in a post on Nazim's timeline said he was one of his favourite faces who walked shoulder to shoulder in the processions of Gonojagoron Mancha, which demands maximum punishment for the war criminals, in Sylhet.

“I liked him because he had always been vocal against fundamentalism,” read the post.

Nazim's Facebook posts also show that he had been vocal against the government failure to tackle crime and recent killings.