Yet another Hindu priest was hacked to death by unidentified assailants in Sadar Upazila of Jhenidah yesterday while a Buddhist man was hacked to death in Bandarban on Thursday night. US based SITE Intelligence Group reported that Islamic State (IS) has claimed responsibility for the murders of the Hindu priest in Jhenidah and the Buddhist man is Bandarban. The victim in Jhenidah was identified as Shymananda Das, 62, a priest of Sree Sree Radha-Madan Math temple of Uttar-Kastasagra village in Sadar upazila. He hailed from Chaulia village of Narail district and was the son of Kiran Sarker. He is the second priest to be killed in Jhenidah in a month and the incident bore the hallmarks of the killing of priest Ananda Gopal Ganguli by suspected militants about three weeks ago. Three assailants on a motorcycle went to the temple premises and hacked Shymananda around 5:30am yesteday. He was plucking flowers at the garden there for morning prayers, said Sree Sree Radha-Madan Math temple general secretary, Milan Kundu, and vice-president Swapan Ghosh. The attackers fled the spot leaving him critically injured. Locals took him to Jhenidah Sadar Hospital where doctors declared him dead. In Bandarban, Buddhist Mong Shoila Marma, 57, a local Awami League leader and a farmer of the ethnic community was hacked to death on Thursday night.
Victim Mong Shoila Marma was the vice-president of ward 7 of Baishari UP unit of the ruling party Nikhangchhari upazila. Unidentified assailants attacked and hacked the Buddhist man with machete at Samshankhola around 9:45pm last night as he was returning home from Baishari Bazar, killing him on the spot, said police. Locals and family members said he had no known enmity with anyone.
BGB, police officials and local political leaders visited the spot last night. Additional Superintendent of Police of Jhenidah, Azabahar Ali Sheikh, said they are trying to find out whether there is any involvement of the Islamic State (IS) or other militants in the gruesome killing. Deputy Inspector General of Police (Khulna Range), SM Moniruzzaman, visited the spot and told reporters that there is a similarity in the pattern of the killing with the previous murder of a Hindu priest. The two incidents could be tied to the same string, he said. No case had been filed till filing of the report at 8:00pm. Meanwhile, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal yesterday told reporters that the killers of Jhenidah Hindu priest would be identified and arrested soon as there was an eyewitness to the incident. Talking to reporters at his Dhanmondi residence, he alleged that a vested quarter has resorted to the secret killings to create anarchy in the country.
Shymananda, who was serving as a priest of the temple for the last couple of years, left Jhenidah on June 8. He feared for his life after Hindu priest Ananda Gopal Ganguli was killed by three unknown assailants at Koratipara village in Jhenidah Sadar upazila on June 7. But he returned after two weeks when locals, including leaders of the Hindu-Bouddha-Khristan Oikyo Parishad in Jhenidah, assured him of safety.
Temple management committee president Subal Chandra Ghosh told reporters that Shymananda, a bachelor, left home 10 years ago. Since then, he had been serving as a priest in the temple.
Attacks on minorities have been on the rise in Bangladesh. In January and March, two homeopaths were killed in similar attacks in the district. Dipali Rani, 45, a neighbor and lone witness to the killing of Shymananda, fell unconscious when the three assailants began stabbing the sebayet. Dipali said: “I was passing the ashram area at about 5.30am on Friday. Baba (Shymananda) was plucking flower for puja. He asked me where I was going in the early hours. I told him that I was going to procure mungbean from a village field. But suddenly Baba shouted ‘save me’. As I looked behind, I saw three young men wearing caps stabbing Baba on the shoulder and head. To save myself, I jumped into a ditch. When I regained consciousness, I found myself on the bed of my house.”  
Shyamananda’s elder brother Rabin, a farmer, his cousins Bijoy and Sudhangshu said the name of Shyamananda was Proddyut Sarker before he became Gosai. When he was studying in class ten in a local school, he left home. He did not marry as he took the religious responsibility to serve mankind by remaining single. Family members of Shyamananda said they would take the body to his village home to his aged mother. Later, it would be brought back for cremation. The Bangladesh Hindu-Bouddha-Khristan Oikyo Parishad Jhenaidah unit president, Narayan Chandra Biswas, Sree Sree Radhamadan Math temple general secretary Milan Kundu and vice-president Swapan Ghosh expressed their deep concern over the incident.
It is shocking that Hindu priests are being killed one after another. But there is no visible progress in investigations following the killings in Jhenaidah, they said. They demanded immediate arrest of the killers. Nearly 50 attacks on minority Sufis, Shias and Ahmadi Muslims, Hindus, Christians and foreigners have taken place in the past three years. Militants were blamed or claimed responsibility for such killings and attacks. US-based SITE Intel Group claimed that the Islamic State group and the Bangladesh branch of Al-Qaeda claimed responsibility for the killings and attacks. The government, however, denied the presence of Islamic State and Al-Qaeda in the country and said that some home-grown “militants” were behind the crimes.