Another Hindu priest hacked to death with machete in Bangladesh
Shaymanonda Das, 45, worked at the Radha Madan Gopal Temple. He was hacked to death while preparing morning prayers with flowers. His murder resembles similar killings elsewhere in the country claimed by Islamic groups. More than 40 people have been killed since February 2013, including 12 people in the last fourteen weeks alone.
Dhaka (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Early this morning, another murder against members of minority communities was consumed. A Hindu priest, Shaymanonda Das, 45, was hacked to death in front of the Radha Madan Gopal Temple in Jhenaidah district headquarter, 300 km south west from the capital. Even though nobody claimed his killing, Jhenaidah SP Sheikh Altaf Hossain said “this murder resembles similar killings elsewhere in the country”, where Islamic militants have targeted members of religious minorities as Hindu priests, Buddhist monks, Christian pastors, and secular bloggers, Lgbt activists, students, professors, foreigners.
"He was preparing morning prayers with flowers at the temple early in the morning and that time three young people came by a motor bike and killed him with machetes and fled away," said Mahbubur Rahman, the chief of Jhenaidah district administration.
Bangladesh, a Muslim-majority nation of 160 million people, has seen a surge in violent attacks by Islamist extremists. At the beginning of June, a 65-year-old Hindu priest was killed by three bike-borne assailants in the same Jhenaidah district. Two days earlier, a Christian businessman was also hacked to death by unidentified machete-wielding men while he had just returned from Sunday Mass.
More than 40 people have been killed in attacks blamed on Islamist militants in Bangladesh since February 2013, including 12 people in the last fourteen weeks alone.
Islamic State claimed responsibility for some of the recent killings although Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina denies the Sunni militant group has a presence in the country, saying homegrown extremists are behind the attacks.
Analysts say the killing of Hindu religious leaders in Bangladesh is a focused attempt to trigger a Hindu exodus to India and create misunderstanding between the two governments at a time when bilateral relationship between Delhi and Dhaka is at its peak.
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30/11/2021 14:29
