Derogatory remarks against Prophet: ISIS takes credit for hacking Hindu tailor to death in Bangladesh

Tangail: A Hindu tailor was hacked to death by machete-wielding ISIS militants in his shop today in central Bangladesh, the latest in a series of brutal attacks on intellectuals, activists and minorities by the dreaded terror group in the Muslim-majority country. 

Nikhil Chandra Joarder, 50, a resident of the Dubail village under Gopalpur upazila of the Tangail district, was hacked to death this afternoon. 

"Three assailants entered Nikhil's house-cum shop and slit his throat," Gopalpur police station Officer-in-Charge Mohammad Abdul Jalil told reporters. 

He said the assailants used a motorbike and fled the scene immediately after the murder. They left a black bag at the spot, which contained three to four bomb-like objects. 

Asked about the possible motive behind the attack, Jalil told reporters that a case was filed against Nikhil in 2012 for making a "derogatory" comment about the Prophet of Islam. 

They said local Muslims had filed a complaint against the victim, who owned a tailoring shop, to police in 2012 for making comments about the Prophet Mohammed.

"But as far as we know that dispute ended peacefully. His family said he was also threatened by a relative," a senior police official told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The murder came less than a week after suspected Islamist militants hacked to death two gay rights activists in the capital Dhaka, saying they tried to promote homosexuality in the deeply conservative nation.

In February suspected Islamists also decapitated a top Hindu priest in a northern district in an attack claimed by the Islamic State group.

The ISIS has also claimed responsibility for a spate of recent murders of foreigners, and Sufi, Ahmadi, Shiite and Christian minorities.

Hindus, the country`s largest religious minority, make up nearly 10 percent of Bangladesh`s 160 million people.