Suspected IS militants kill Hindu priest in Bangladesh
Date
2/22/2016 12:05:09 AM
(MENAFN- Asia Times) A policeman guards a home where a Hindu priest was killed in Panchagarh Bangladesh on Feb. 21
According to police threecriminals came on motorcycles and attacked Jogeshwar Dasadhikari 50 a bachelor as he was organizing prayers at the Debiganj temple near Panchagar 494 km (308 miles) north of the capital Dhaka.
“We suspect they (attackers) might be members of the banned Islamist militant group Jamaatul Mujahedeen Bangladesh (JMB)” police official Humayun Kabir said.
However SITE an intelligence group said Islamic State (IS) has claimed responsibility for Sunday’skilling.
Debiganj Police have arrested Khalilur Rahman in connection with the killing.
The incident happened atSri Sri Shonto Gaurio temple of Shonapota around 6:30 am.
Locals said the criminals first threw stones at the temple roof to draw the priest’s attention. WhenJogeshwar came out of the shrine to check what was happening they stabbed him. As the priest screaming for help started running toward a home behind the temple they slit his throat.
One devotee Gopal Chandra Roy 35 who lives in the temple said he was singing devotional songs when he heard Jogeswar’s screams. As he came out to help him one of the gang membersstarted firing at him. Roy was hit in the arm but he escaped by scaling a wall.
Hearing the gunshots another devotee Nitai Das 40 came running into the temple compound. The attackers threwcrude bombs at him and fled.
Roy and Das are being treated for injuries at different hospitals. Doctors said their injuries are not life-threatening.
The priest’s elder brother Rabindranath Roy said Jogeswar had been living in the temple for years and he had no enemies.
In October 2015 a pastor survived an attempt on his life by three men who came to his home pretending to want to learn about Christianity.
Luke Sarker 52 suffered minor injuries when three men aged 25-30 attacked him with a knife at his home in the northwestern district of Pabna.
Sarker the pastor of Faith Bible Church said after they arrived at his home on Oct. 5 the men suddenly attacked him with a knife and tried to slit his throat. But as he shouted his wife came to his rescue and the men fled. Police later recovered a motorbike from outside his home.
A week before that two foreigners were fatally attacked.The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for both the attacks — one on a Japanese agricultural worker and the other on an Italian aid worker.
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