Zafar Iqbal was stabbed at the back of his head by an assailant armed with a knife on Saturday.
Foyzur Rahman Faizul, who stabbed noted author Dr Zafar Iqbal at Shahjalal University of Science and Technology (SUST), has confessed that he deems the professor an enemy of Islam.
While talking to reporters on Saturday night, RAB 9 Chief Lt Col Ali Haidar Azad said: “During the interrogation, Faizul told us that he attacked Prof Zafar Iqbal because the professor was an enemy of Islam.”
“The assailant has been admitted to a hospital. During initial investigation, he provided us with contradictory statements. We are yet to determine whether Faizul is a member of a terror group,” Ali Haidar of Rapid Action Battalion said.
He said: “More details will be unearthed as we carry out further investigation regarding the attack on Zafar Iqbal.”
Zafar Iqbal was speaking at a two-day long fair organized by the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering when he was stabbed in the back of his head by an assailant armed with a knife on Saturday.
The attack occurred around 5:40pm. The attacker, a youth identified as Foizur, was immediately taken down and detained by authorities after a severe thrashing.
Zafar was taken to Sylhet MAG Osmani Medical College after the attack afternoon.
From there he was taken by an air force ambulance to the air force’s Tejgaon air field in Dhaka, and then taken to the Combined Military Hospital (CMH).
A team of Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime Unit (CTTC) is in Sylhet to interrogate the attacker.
According to CTTC sources, investigation is being conducted taking into consideration the numerous threats Zafar Iqbal received from extremist groups over the past few years.
