Prominent Bangladeshi-American blogger Avijit Roy killed

(CNN)A prominent Bangladeshi-American blogger who spoke out for secular freedom has died after being attacked on a Dhaka street, a local police official said Friday.

Assailants attacked Avijit Roy, the founder of the website Mukto-Mona, and his wife Thursday night as they were walking back from a speaking engagement, said Krishna Pada Roy, a deputy commissioner with the Dhaka police.

Roy was transported to a nearby hospital where he died, Roy said. His wife suffered injuries of her own, including a severed finger.

Last year, an Islamist activist said that Roy "will be murdered when he comes back" to Bangladesh, the International Humanist and Ethical Union said. Roy reported such threats on his life, the group said.

Police were investigating a "local hard-line religious group" that praised the killing online, the BBC reported.

The attack is reminiscent of January's terrorist assault in Paris on the offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, where 12 people were killed by Islamic extremists.

Based out of the Atlanta area, Roy was a "prominent defender of the free thought movement (and) advocate of atheism, science and metaphysical naturalism," according to his website. He authored seven books and his writings were also featured in numerous magazines and journals.

Roy's outspokenness, especially on matters of religion, made him a target in Bangladesh, where nearly 90% of people are Muslim and 10% are Hindu, according to the U.S. government.

On the national news agency of Bangladesh, BSS, Health and Family Welfare Minister Mohammad Nasim condemned the killing and called for the "expeditious nabbing of the killers and their exemplary punishment."

Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu "expressed deep sorrow and sympathy at the untimely death" on the same news site.

Jadabeswar Bhattacharjee, a contributor to Mukto-Mona, posted Friday that Roy had been killed by "some brain-dead Islamist bigots."

"I have no word to condemn this heinous crime perpetuated by these Islamist cowards," he wrote. "When such Islamist cowards failed in intellectual discourse with Avijit and when they found that their dogma has been proved hollow by Avijit, they settled the score by murdering him."

IHEU spokesman Bob Churchill said the "loss is keenly felt by freethinkers and humanists in South Asia and around the world" and called Roy "a colleague in humanism and a friend to all who respect human rights, freedom, and the light of reason."

The IHEU said in a statement that an Islamist activist "well-known" to authorities early last year threatened Roy and "repeatedly and openly talked about wanting to see secular and freethought writers dead."

"Those under threat have complained that authorities have ignored his threats and incitement, despite his credible links to Islamist extremists and similar murders taking place," the statement said.

There was no immediate response to the claim from authorities in Bangladesh.