Dhaka – A Hindu priest in Panchagarh has died after being attacked by miscreants just outside the temple he used to serve, bdnews24.com reported on Sunday.
Police said the victim Jajneswar Roy, 50, was the head priest at the Santagourhiyo Temple in the northern district’s Debiganj Upazila.
Two others were injured in the attack on Sunday morning.
Panchagarh district police super Gias Uddin Ahmed said that the assailants slaughtered the priest.
Quoting locals, he said the priest was preparing for the morning prayers, when stones were hurled at the temple. “When he came out to check, the attackers pounced on him and slit his throat.”
They also hurled a few crude bombs while escaping on motorbikes, when another person was injured.
Superintendent of Police Ahmed said the assailants, before fleeing, shot neighbour ‘Gopal’, who had rushed to save the priest.
Hindustan Times reported: At least three unidentified men attacked and killed the 50-year-old priest with sharp weapons.
Local police chief Gias Uddin said the attackers also opened fire and exploded several homemade bombs, injuring Gopal Chandra Roy and Nitai Pada Das, who had come to the temple to pray.
Uddin said police have no clues about who was behind the attack and why.
No group claimed responsibility for the attack.
Local residents told police the attackers were unknown to them and came to the temple on a motorcycle. Some of them said they saw three men on the motorcycle flee the area but they did not chase them as they could not understand what had happened.
In recent months, several Christian and Hindu priests have been threatened in Bangladesh. A Christian pastor survived an attack, also in northern Bangladesh, last October.
Last year, an Italian and a Japanese national were killed in similar but separate attacks while four secular bloggers and a publisher were killed, allegedly by radical groups.
The Islamic State claimed responsibility for some attacks but the government rejected the claim and pointed to local radical groups.
The identity of the attackers or the motive behind the murder was not yet clear, police aid. – News Desk
