Dhaka: Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday visited a secular writer at a military hospital after being stabbed multiple times by a man who claimed that the author was an "enemy of Islam".

Muhammed Zafar Iqbal, 64, a science fiction writer and professor at the Shahjalal University of Science and Technology in Sylhet, was stabbed six times in his head, neck and left hand on Saturday.

Police said they have detained the attacker, identified as Faizur Rahman alias Faizul, a resident of an area adjacent to the university.

Hasina's press secretary Ihsanul Karim said the Prime Minister visited Dhaka's Combined Military Hospital (CMH) and talked to the writer.

"The Prime Minister was at the hospital for nearly one hour when she also spoke to the medical board formed for his care and asked for all required measures for his quick recovery," Karim said.

Hasina earlier urged Bangladeshis to remain alert to the threat of extremism, saying "blindness gripped those who carry out such attacks". Iqbal was rushed to a hospital after being stabbed and later airifted to the military hospital in Dhaka. PTI