Hindu priest hacked to death in Bangladesh

The killing of a Hindu priest who was hacked to death in Bangladesh on Friday, July 1 is characteristic of the previous murders that wracked the country in a spate of violence, observers said.

The Hindu priest, 45-year-old Shaymanonda Das, was murdered in front of a temple in Jhinaidah district headquarter, 300 kms (188 miles) south west from the capital Dhaka, according to Reuters. 

"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," chief of Jhenaidah district administration, Mahbubur Rahman, told the publication.

The official noted that the way the Hindu priest was killed seemed similar with the killings made by local militants, while adding that they cannot say anything more.

His statement was echoed by Al Jazeera reporter Maher Sattar, who said, "The characteristics of the murder - three men on a motor cycle, hacking to death, these are similar to a number of attacks that have taken place in Bangladesh over the past few years."

Since February 2013, the country has seen a series of brutal killings that claimed the lives of more than 30 individuals so far. The murders reportedly targeted religious minorities, secular intellectuals, and activists.

Only recently, Bangladesh police launched an anti-crime clampdown and arrested more than 8,000 people and suspected militants. Both the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) and al-Qaeda terrorist groups staked claims to the killings which homegrown militant groups disputed.

The government led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina also denied claims of the terrorist groups' existence in the country and suspects instead the opposition party, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its fundamentalist ally Jamaat-e-Islami, to be behind the attacks in a bid to seize control over the country.

Regardless of who's responsible for the killings, Sattar reported that the number of Hindus in the country, once the largest minority group, has now greatly diminished.

"Many Hindus we've been told have tried to make their way to India or are thinking about what their future might be," Sattar said.