70-Year-Old Hindu Priest Hacked to Death in Bangladesh

70-year-old Hindu priest Anando Gopal Ganguly was riding his bicycle to a temple on Tuesday morning in the Jhenaidah district of Bangladesh when three men on motorbikes shot him then slashed him with bladed weapons, nearly decapitating him. His body was found in a field near the temple.

“Although there was no immediate claim of responsibility, investigators said the killing bore the hallmarks of recent attacks by Islamist extremists who have carried out 10 other similar killings in the last 10 weeks,” the UK Daily Mail reports.

Other victims have included “secular bloggers, gay rights activists, and followers of minority religions.”

Local franchisees of ISIS and al-Qaeda have been held responsible for most of the attacks, but the Home Minister of Bangladesh, Asaduzaman Khan, peered through a dense web of puppet strings to spot the real perpetrator: Israel.

“These killings are part of a national and international conspiracy. Those who are carrying out these incidents are communicating with Mossad,” Khan declared, building from last month’s arrest of an opposition party official for sedition after he allegedly met with an Israeli government adviser in India to plot against the ruling party of Bangladesh.

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon dismissed Khan’s theories as “utter drivel.”

Another who is also probably not buying what Khan is selling: The three members of outlawed Islamist cult Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh shot dead by police during raids on Tuesday. The Daily Mail cites experts who believe the banning of the largest Islamist party in Bangladesh, Jamaat-e-Islami, has driven many Muslims toward even more extreme groups.

CNN reports that ISIS has taken responsibility for the murder of Ganguly. “God willing, the knives of the Mujahedeen will continue until we cleanse Bangladesh from the wrath of polytheism,” the terrorists declared.

CNN notes that just a few days ago, the wife of a prominent anti-terrorist police officer was murdered in a fashion similar to Ganguly, while taking her son to catch a school bus.

A 65-year-old Christian was also hacked to death near his church after prayers on Sunday, an atrocity claimed by ISIS.