"The whole world has gasped in horror at the hacking to death by machete-wielding terrorists of the secularist US-Bangladeshi blogger Avijit Roy, close to the heavily-guarded university book fair in Dhaka", said Lord Avebury, vice chair of All Party Parliamentary Group on Human Rights and Chairman of International Bangladesh Foundation, in a statement.

The statement issued on Saturday also said police witnessed the murder but the killers were allowed to escape. Extremist attacks on secularists and religious minorities add an extra dimension to the loss of over 100 lives in the violence connected with blockades and demonstrations calling for new elections.

The government and the BNP must together chart the way back towards democracy and a united front against terrorism, he added.

Meanwhile, Ted Jeory, deputy editor of the Bureau of Investigative Journalism in London, in a separate statement, said, "Can you imagine being hacked to death just because someone didn't like what you'd written? These fascists are like Nazis. They want to suppress ideas and deter debate, but I hope the horrific murder of Avijit Roy inspires more people to follow in his footsteps. Long live Avijit Roy, long live the freedom to write, blog and long live a secular Bangladesh."

The author of Trial by Jeory blog which tries to hold politicians and to some extent Islamists to account in East London, Ted is the first blogger to be shortlisted for the Paul Foot Award for investigative journalism in 2013.