ISIS has claimed responsibility for the fatal stabbing of a Hindu priest at a temple in Bangladesh on Sunday, following an increase in Islamist violence in the country.
Jogeshwaer Roy, 55, was organising prayers at the Deviganj temple near Panchagar on Feburary 21 when five or six attackers cut his throat.
The perpetrators then shot in the leg a devotee who went to Roy's aid, wounding him.
Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack on social media, though police have so far attributed the incident to a local militant group. The Bangladeshi government has previously dismissed ISIS' claims that it is present in the country, insisting that the group merely wants to create "instability".
"In a security operation facilitated by the almighty God, soldiers of the Caliphate liquidated the priest Jogeshwar Roy, the founder and the head of the Deviganj temple that belongs to the infidel Hindus," a statement by ISIS read in Arabic, Reuters reports.
"One of his companions was hurt after being targeted with light weapons in the area of Panchagar in Northern Bangladesh and the Mujahideen returned to their positions unharmed, and all praise be to God."
Bangladesh has experienced a wave of militant violence over the past year, including the killing of four atheist bloggers, an Italian aid worker and a Japanese citizen, in addition to a number of attacks on Hindu temples and mosques.
Christians in Bangladesh have also been targeted, in what persecution charity Open Doors today called "a campaign of destruction carried out by local Islamic fundamentalists".
A church leader in Pabna, north-western Bangladesh, was attacked in October, and ISIS claimed responsibility for the killing of the senior pastor of One Way Church of Bangladesh on 7 January this year. Death threats were also issued to ten church leaders in the north of the country in December.
The constitution allows the practice of religions other than Islam and there are around 3,000 churches in Bangladesh, but more than 90 per cent of the population is Muslim.
Four members of the Islamic fundamentalist organisation Jamaatul Mujahedeen Bangladesh have been arrested in connection with Sunday's attack.
