Dhaka: A Bangladeshi blogger known for his secular views was hacked to death on Friday by assailants armed with machetes in capital Dhaka, the fourth one to be killed this year, the media reported.

He is the fourth Bangladeshi blogger killed this year by suspected militants.

According to police, Niloy was killed in his apartment in the city's Gorhan area, bdnews24 reported.

Five assailants had entered his house.

Niloy was an activist, carrying on a movement demanding a ban on Islamist parties and the maximum punishment for 1971 war criminals, a source said.

"Niloy was also a regular blogger," he added.

The source said the attackers had entered the building posing as potential tenants.

In February, writer-blogger Avijit Roy was hacked to death near Dhaka University.

A month later, Oyasiqur Rahman was killed in a similar manner also in the capital.

Two months later, Ananta Bijoy Das was killed in Sylhet district.

In May, terror group Al Qaeda's Indian offshoot had claimed responsibility for the killing of secular bloggers in Bangladesh whom it described as 'blasphemers'.

Bangladeshi radical group Ansar Bangla also claimed responsibility for the deaths.

Two years ago, activist and blogger Ahmed Rajib Haider, was hacked to death near his Mirpur home in Dhaka.

(IANS)