Bangladeshi spiritual leader hacked to death

Unidentified attackers have hacked a "pir", or spiritual leader to death in Bangladesh's Rajshahi district, some 256 km northwest of capital Dhaka, a police official said Saturday.

Abdur Razzak, officer-in-charge of Rajshahi's Tanor Police Station, told journalists Saturday that the body of the victim, Shahidullah, 65, was recovered on Friday night on receipt of information from locals.

According to the official, the pir was most likely hacked first and then slaughtered.

The motive behind the killing could not be immediately known.

The murder reportedly bore the hallmark of previous murders of bloggers and secular activists.

Two persons including writer of a LGBT magazine were also hacked to death by unidentified assailants in Bangladesh capital Dhaka on April 25, hours after a prison guard was shot dead in a separate incident.

However, the pir killing is the latest in the spate of killings that has been haunting the north since last year. A university teacher in Rajshahi was murdered in similar fashion last month.

Muslim-majority Bangladesh has seen a surge in violent attacks over the past few months in which members of minority Muslim sects and other religious groups have also been targeted. Endit