Priest murdered in Panchagarh in northern Bangladesh

Unidentified assailants have hacked to death a Hindu priest in Panchagarh.

Another person received bullet injuries in the attack on Sunday morning.

The motive was unclear, but witness accounts matched the modus operandi of last year’s attacks on foreigners and Christian priests.

Deceased Jagneshwar Roy, 50, was the head priest at the Santagourhiyo Temple at Sonapota village in the northern district’s Debiganj Upazila.

Injured Gopal Chandra Roy told reporters the assailants shot at him, saying, “Your guruji has been executed.”

Three people, who came on a motorcycle, took part in the attack, another witness said.

Panchagarh district police chief Gias Uddin Ahmed said that the assailants had hacked the priest.

Quoting locals, he said the priest was preparing for the morning prayers, when stones were hurled at the temple. “When he came out to check, the attackers pounced on him and slit his throat."

The police chief said the assailants, before fleeing, shot at neighbour ‘Gopal’, who had rushed to save the priest.

They also hurled a few crude bombs, injuring another person, and sped away on motorbikes.

Eyewitnesses said the attack bore similarities with the murder of Italian aid worker Cesare Tavella in Dhaka, Japanese Citizen Kunio Hoshi in Rangpur, attacks on a Shia mosque in Bogra and on a police checkpost at Ashulia in Dhaka.

In each case, three men had fled on a motorcycle.

In all the cases, the attackers carried sharp weapons and firearms.

Police had denied any link of international Islamist radical groups with the attacks, though Islamic State and al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) claimed credit for some of the incidents.

Police are yet to achieve any breakthrough in any of the cases.

Gopal, who was shot at during Sunday’s attack, is undergoing treatment at the Rangpur Medical College Hospital.

“Guruji (Jagneshwar) was not in good health. I was making bread for him in temple kitchen in the morning and singing Kirtan (devotional song), wishing his recovery. It was sometime between 6am to 6:30am. Suddenly I heard guruji’s cry,” he said.

Gopal said he saw two people, in trousers and hoods, leaving Jagneshwar’s room.

“They pulled out pistols from their pockets and threatened to ‘execute’ me like Guruji if I entered his room,” he said.

“Then they fired at me for singing kirtan,” he added.

Gopal said he ran into the temple while the attackers were reloading their weapons.

Neighbour Nirmal Chandra Barman said he was awakened by yells from the temple and saw the assailants hacking Jagneshwar with a sharp weapon.

Barman was injured, as he fell while fleeing.

Debiganj Police Station OC Babul Akter said an unexploded bomb, a bullet and a cartridge were found at the scene of the crime.

Gopal said he had heard explosions.

Neighbour Sat Roy said he saw three people fleeing on a motorbike.

Jagneshwar was cremated after a post-mortem examination in the afternoon.