Hindu Priest Hacked To Death In Bangladesh

DHAKA (Reuters) - A Hindu priest was hacked to death on Friday at a temple in Bangladesh, police and senior administrative officials said.

Bangladesh, a Muslim-majority nation of 160 million people, has seen a surge in violent attacks in few months on liberal activists, members of minority Muslim sects and other religious groups by Islamist extremists.

Police said they did not know the motive behind the killing of the Hindu priest and no one had been arrested.

Shaymanonda Das, 45, was hacked to death in front of a temple in Jhinaidah district headquarter, 300 kms (188 miles) south west from the capital Dhaka.

"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," said Mahbubur Rahman, the chief of Jhenaidah district administration.

"The nature of killing was similar with the local militants, but we can not say more at the moment," Mahbubur told Reuters by telephone.

Islamic State has claimed responsibility for some of the recent killings although the government denies the Sunni militant group has a presence in the country, saying homegrown extremists are behind the attacks.

(Reporting by Serajul Quadir; Editing by Michael Perry)