US-based SITE Intelligence Group reports that Islamic State (IS) has claimed the responsibility for the killing of a Hindu monastery worker who was stabbed to death in Pabna Sadar upazila.

 

Nityaranjan Pandey, 60, a sebak at Sree Sree Thakur Anukulchandra Satsang ashram, was hacked to death yesterday, the latest in a spate of such killings in the country.

 

The claim was carried by Islamic State's Amaq news agency, Site Intelligence Group, a U.S.-based monitoring service, reported on Saturday.

 

In a tweet, SITE intelligence said, “Amaq News Agency reported that #ISIS fighters in #Bangladesh killed a Hindu man in #Pabna, in the north of the country.”

 

In the past week alone, an elderly Hindu priest and a Christian shopkeeper were hacked to death - both of which Islamic State claimed responsibility for - and the Muslim wife of a counter-terrorism police official was also killed.

 

Militants have killed more than 30 people, including members of religious minorities, liberal bloggers and academics, since February last year.

 

Islamic State has claimed responsibility for 21 of the attacks since its first claim in September last year and Al-Qaeda has claimed most of the rest, according to SITE.

 

The government denies either group has a presence in Bangladesh and says domestic militants are responsible.