In an other incident of attack on minority, a Hindu teacher was attacked and critically injured by unidentified assailants at his home in Madaripur district, southwestern part of Bangladesh yesterday.
The victim, 45 year old Ripon Chakraborty, a Maths lecturer at the Government Nazimuddin College, responded to a knock on his door, when 3 assailants swooped on him attacking him with sharp weapons.
Locals caught one of the fleeing assailants and handed him over to the police. Ripon who has been hacked on his neck and head has been rushed to the Barisal Medical College Hospital with critical wounds. Going by the style of the attack, police suspect Islamist radicals to be behind the crime.
Meanwhile, a priest of the Dhaka-based Ramakrishna Mission has received a death threat from perpetrators claiming to be followers of terror group Islamic State. In a letter received yesterday, the priest has been ordered to stop preaching his religion, otherwise he would be hacked to death with machetes.
Police sources said, a complaint has been filed after which security has been tightened at the Mission. The latest attack and threat has come in the midst of a 7-day crackdown with the police arresting over 11,000 people including around 166 suspected militants during the last 6 days.
Intelligence sources say at least 13 Hindu teachers from different districts are facing death threats by banned militant outfit Ansarullah Bangla team. At least 5 Hindu priests and monastery staff have been killed since January this year.
Though international militant outfits IS and Al-Qaeda have claimed responsibility for the crimes, Bangladesh government has maintained there is no IS presence in the country. The government has blamed the opposition for links with the recent targeted killing wave which has claimed over 47 lives during the last 18 months.