On a recent evening in a Midwestern US city, a middle-aged woman with bandaged arms and a missing thumb entered a crowded restaurant. Nearby, children colored with crayons.


Waiters rushed by.The maimed woman, Rafida Ahmed, scanned the room nervously. The Atlanta financial executive has been hiding since Islamic militants wielding machetes attacked her on Feb. 26 in her native Bangladesh.During the assault, her husband -- the Bangladeshi-American secular activist and blogger Avijit Roy (pictured) -- was hacked to death. Ahmed sustained four head wounds, and her left thumb was sliced off.


On May 3, the Indian-born head of al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent claimed responsibility for a string attacks in Bangladesh and Pakistan, including Roy's.  Read more