A Sufi Muslim leader has been hacked to death near the north town of Rajshahi in Bangladesh. Police say it may be another attack by Muslim extremists.

The body of Mohammad Shahidullah, 65, was found by villagers in a pool of blood in a mango grove. His murder comes amid rising concern over the rise in violence against religious minorities.

Among more than 20 people killed by Islamic militant groups are members of religious minorities, although this is believed to be the first attack on a Sufi Muslim.

Sufism is popular in rural Bangladesh but considered deviant because of its mysticism by many of the country’s majority Sunni Muslims.