Elderly Buddhist monk hacked to
death in Bangladesh, say police
The Guardian 14 May
2016
Latest
in spate of murders of religious minorities and secular activists
in Muslim-majority nation
Bangladeshi protesters and
form a human chain during a demonstration against the killing of a
university professor in Dhaka on 29 April, 2016. The latest victim
in a spate of killings has been a Buddhist monk.
An elderly Buddhist monk was found hacked to death on Saturday in
Bangladesh, police said, the latest in a spate
of murders of religious minorities and secular
activists in
the Muslim-majority nation.
No group has yet claimed
responsibility, although the killing in the remote southeastern
district of Bandarban appeared to bear a resemblance to several
recent murders by suspected Islamist militants.
“Villagers found Bhante (monk) Maung Shue U Chak’s dead body in a
pool of blood inside the Buddhist temple this morning. He was
hacked to death,” Jashim Uddin, deputy police chief of Bandarban,
said.
Uddin said the monk, thought to be 75, appeared to have been
attacked by at least four people at the Buddhist temple in
Baishari, around 350km (220 miles) southeast of Dhaka early on
Saturday morning.
“We saw human footprints in the temple and found that four to five
people entered the compound,” he added.
Suspected Islamists have been blamed for or claimed responsibility
in dozens of murders of Sufi, Shiite and Ahmadi Muslims, Hindus,
Christians and foreigners in recent years.
However the secular government in Dhaka denies Isis and al-Qaida
are behind the attacks, saying they have no known presence
in Bangladesh,
and blames the killings on homegrown militants.
Buddhists make up less than 1% of Bangladesh’s population of 160
million people.