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Japanese man shot dead in Bangladesh, IS claims responsibility

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for shooting dead a Japanese citizen in northern Bangladesh on Saturday, days after they said they were behind the murder of an Italian aid worker in Dhaka.

Police said the latest victim, whom they named as Hoshi Kunio, aged 66, was riding in a rickshaw when he was shot dead in Kaunia town in Rangpur district at about 10:30 am local time (0430 GMT).

“He was travelling to the town from Rangpur city, where he had been living for a while, on a cycle rickshaw when his vehicle was stopped by three men riding on a motorcycle,” deputy police chief of Rangpur, Saifur Rahman, told AFP.

The IS jihadist group later claimed the killing on Twitter, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, a US monitoring organisation.

The shooting came less than a week after a 50-year-old Italian citizen, Cesare Tavella, was shot dead near the capital’s diplomatic zone, an attack that was also claimed by IS.

The Bangladesh government had sought to calm security fears in the country after the first murder on Monday, describing it as an “isolated incident”.

On Saturday, in the wake of the second killing, the government tried to allay mounting concerns over the safety of foreign nationals in the country, saying it was taking both murders “very seriously”.

“The aim of the murder of innocent people in this way is to make an attempt to create instability in the country,” Home Minister Asaduzzaman Kamal said.

Kunio was a frequent visitor to Bangladesh and worked on a farming project in Rangpur, about 300 kilometres (180 miles) north of Dhaka, police said.

“Two of the assailants shot him twice in the chest with pistols while the other waited with the motorbike ready to flee,” local police chief Rezaul Karim said, adding four people had been interrogated over the murder but none had been arrested.

Kunio’s landlord Jakaria Bala told Bengali daily Prothom Alo that the victim had leased a piece of land in a village near Kaunia town to grow grass for cattle.

A Japanese embassy spokesman in Dhaka told AFP that they were seeking more information regarding the deceased.

“According to the information we got from the law enforcement agencies, it appears to indicate that he was a Japanese who is in his 60s,” Takeshi Matsunaga told AFP.

His body was taken to Rangpur Medical College morgue.

United States envoy in Bangladesh Marcia Bernicat said she was “deeply saddened” and demanded swift action.

“I urge the government of Bangladesh to investigate every aspect of this crime and to bring the perpetrators to justice as soon as possible,” she said in a statement.

Bangladesh prides itself on being a mainly moderate Muslim country. But the gruesome killings of a series of atheist bloggers this year have rocked the nation and sparked a crackdown on local hardline Islamist groups.

After the murder of the Italian less than a week ago, international schools closed temporarily and Western embassies restricted their diplomats’ movements, while Australia’s cricket team cancelled a planned tour of the country over security concerns. (AFP)