Bangladesh, Dhaka: Another attack on minorities, a Hindu priest was today hacked to death by unknown men in a predawn attack on a temple in Bangladesh which also injured two devotees, police said. They said the attack in northern Panchagarh district killed 50-year-old Jajneswar Roy and wounded two Hindu devotees at the temple premises while the assassins, presumed to be three in number, fled the scene on a motorbike.
A TV channel quoted a devotee in the neighbourhood as saying”They (assailants) first hurled stones at the temple which prompted him (Roy) to come out to see what actually happened. The killers then pounced on him and slit his throat”. Before fleeing the scene the killers fired gunshots and hurled crude bombs to avoid being chased injuring a neighbour who rushed to the spot to save the priest, Panchagarh police chief Giasuddin Ahmed said at the scene.
He said, “The identity of the attackers or the motive behind the murder is not clear. Definitely we will launch an investigation and manhunt to track down the killers”. Sunni-majority Bangladesh has witnessed a series of systematic attacks on religious minorities in recent months that killed nine people including two foreigners and wounded nearly 100 others.