Hindu cleric hacked to death in Bangladesh

Islamist militants are suspected to be behind the death of a Hindu priest in Bangladesh.

The body of Ananda Gopal Ganguly, 70, was found in a field near his temple in the western Jhenaidah district. His head had been nearly severed from his neck.

Police have killed three suspected Islamists in separate incidents in a crackdown on extremists blamed for the murders.

Two alleged members of the banned Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) were shot dead in Dhaka when police raided a home in the city – police said unidentified gunmen opened fire on them.

A third – said to have been linked to a recent bombing of an Ahmadiya mosque – was killed in western Rashahi district.

Ananda Gopal Ganguly is the third Hindu priest to be killed in two days and no group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Police do not think there were any witnesses.

More than 40 people have been killed since January last year in the wave of attacks on those seen by extremists as offensive to Islam.

Secular bloggers, academics, gay rights activists, and members of religious minorities including Shia, Sufi and Ahmadi Muslims, Christians and Hindus have all been killed, many of them hacked to death.

The government insists that Islamic State does not have a presence in Bangladesh and has tended to blame the opposition and local militant groups.

Critics have accused the government of failing to properly address the violence in Bangladesh.