Witnesses said ‘Saoda’, a student of the Department of Statistics, was on her way to attend the class when she was attacked at Brown Compound area around 9:30am on Thursday.

Locals initially rushed her to Sher-e-Bangla Medical College and Hospital but she was later airlifted to the Dhaka Medical College Hospital where she succumbed to her injuries.

Shafiul Alam, a teacher of the university’s mathematics department, told  Saoda passed away around 5pm.

A resident of Brown Compound, Abdul Quader, said there was a knock at his door in the morning.

“I saw a boy slashing a girl’s head with sharp weapons,” he said. The assailant fled the scene immediately, Quader added.

Sher-e-Bangla Medical College official Md Rubel said Saoda was bleeding profusely from her head injuries.

Saoda’s classmates suspect one ‘Rasel’ for the attacks. They were into a relationship.

Her classmate ‘Rabbi’ said both Saoda and Rasel hailed from Barguna’s Patharghata Upazila.

Lecturer Shafiul Alam, who accompanied Saoda to Dhaka, said she was flown to Dhaka around Thursday noon as her conditions had deteriorated.

“Doctors declared her dead around 5pm,” he said.