ICC Note:

Three members of an outlawed Islamic group have been arrested in connection with the killing of a Hindu priest and wounding of another devotee in Bangladesh. The attack on the Hindu priest comes as just the latest attack on Bangladesh’s religious minority communities. Over the past year, both Christian and Hindu communities have been attacked my Islamic extremists, some who claim to be connected to the ISIS terrorist group. Many fear the possibility of ISIS operating in Bangladesh and what that means for the safety of the country’s religious minorities. 

2/23/2016 Bangladesh (CNN) – Bangladeshi police have arrested three people in connection with a religiously motivated attack on a Hindu priest and a devotee in the north of the country, a police official tells CNN.

The priest was killed and the devotee wounded Sunday in the latest attack on minority religious figures in the predominantly Muslim nation.

Two of those arrested are activists in the outlawed Islamist organization Jamaatul Mujahedin Bangladesh, Police Inspector Muhammad Babul Akhter said. The other is a member of Jamaat-e-Islami, the country’s largest Islamic political party.

They have been charged with murder and possession of weapons.

Despite media reports of claims of responsibility by ISIS, the official said that police have not found any evidence of a connection with the extremist group so far.

Two people attacked the 50-year-old Hindu priest in a temple in Bangladesh’s northern district of Panchagarh on Sunday morning, Panchagarh district police Chief Giasuddin Ahmed said.

The attackers approached on a motorcycle, hurling grenades and firing bullets at the temple, before slitting the priest’s throat and fleeing, Ahmed said. A devotee at the temple was also wounded in the assault.

Police had ramped up security in Hindu temples and centers in the district after receiving anonymous threats, Ahmed said.

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