Victim was gathering flowers for morning prayers when attacked.
By Sreekanth A. Nair
A Hindu temple worker was hacked to death in Bangladesh on Friday morning, the latest incident in a series of attacks targeting religious minorities in the country.
Shyamonando Das, 52, who belonged to Sri Sri Radhamadan Gopal temple in Jhenaidah district, was attacked with sharp objects by three unidentified assailants on a bike near the temple when he was gathering flowers for morning prayers, reported The Hindustan Times.
“They hacked him on his neck three times and there was one stabbing mark in his head,” deputy district police chief Gopinath Kanjilal told AFP. “He died after he was brought to the hospital.”
Though the police have no clues about the assailants, officials are of the opinion that the attack has many similarities with the series of attacks against minorities and activists in the country for a couple of years.
More than a dozen people have been killed in the country since April this year. In June, 70-year-old Ananda Gopal Ganguly, a priest was hacked to death in the same district almost in the same manner. Three days later, another Hindu priest Nityaranjan Pandey was murdered in the northwestern district of Pabna’s Hemayetpur Upazila.
For three or four years, the Muslim-majority nation has been witnessing Islamist radical groups taking root in the country. Almost 40 people have died in attacks since 2013. The list includes minorities, gay activists, atheist bloggers, and secular writers.
Though Islamic Militant outfits like the Islamic State and Al Qaeda on the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) have claimed responsibility for many of the attacks, the Bangladeshi government has refused to accept the presence of them in the country.
Last month, in an anti-militant drive launched by the government, almost 14000 people were arrested from different parts of Bangladesh. But, some reports claim that most of them are ordinary criminals and not terrorists.
Meanwhile, Dhaka police have arrested Khaled Saifullah, an active member of the banned Jamaat-ul-Mujahedeen Bangladesh (JMB) in connection with an attempt to murder a college professor on June 15.