Hindu ashram worker hacked to death in Bangladesh

A Hindu ashram worker was on Friday hacked to death by unidentified assailants while he was on his regular morning walk in Bangladesh, days after a priest was killed by suspected Islamic State jihadists in the Muslim majority nation, which has seen a string of brutal attacks by Islamists on religious minorities and secular activists.

Nityaranjan Pandey (60), who was working at the Thakur Anukul Chandra Satsanga Paramtirtha Hemayetpurdham Ashram for the past 40 years, was attacked near the ashram in Pabna’s Hemayetpur Upazila, ASP (Sadar Circle) Selim Khan was quoted as saying by bdnews

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the murder. This is the second such murder within three days. Only on Tuesday, a Hindu priest was hacked to death by three suspected Islamic State jihadists, who nearly severed his head.

There have been systematic assaults in Bangladesh in recent months specially targeting minorities, secular bloggers, intellectuals and foreigners.

On Sunday, a Christian businessman was hacked to death by machete-wielding men near a church, hours after the wife of a top anti-terror police officer was shot dead by religious extremists.

In February, militants stabbed to death a Hindu priest at a temple in Bangladesh and shot and wounded a devotee who went to his aid.

In April, a liberal professor was hacked to death by machete-wielding IS militants who slit his throat near his home in Rajshahi city. In the same month, a Hindu tailor was hacked to death by IS militants in his shop and Bangladesh’s first gay magazine editor was murdered along with a friend in his flat in Dhaka by Islamists.

The IS and al-Qaeda in Indian Peninsula have claimed responsibility for some of the attacks although the government denies their presence in Bangladesh.