An elderly Buddhist monk has been hacked to death in a remote region of Bangladesh, officials said.
The body of Mong Shwe U Chak, 75, was found early Saturday in an isolated temple in a village 350 kilometers southeast of Dhaka, the capital.
Police say they do not know the motive for the killing of the monk, who lived alone.
The Daily Star, a Bangladeshi newspaper, reported "panic spread among the locals" following news of the slaying.
The monk's son told The Star his father "did not have any enmity with anyone in the area."
Jyotirmoy Barua, a human rights lawyer, told the French news agency AFP that U Chak had received anonymous death threats, "but nobody took it seriously."
Similar killings
U Chak's murder is the latest in a series of brutal killings of liberals, academics, bloggers, foreigners and religious minorities in Bangladesh that has spread deep fear in the country and raised worrying questions about whether the secular traditions of the moderate Muslim country are under threat from extremist Islamic groups.
Affiliates of Islamic State and al-Qaida have claimed responsibility for almost all the attacks, but the government says these groups have no presence in the country and points the finger at homegrown militant groups.
But with most of the killings unsolved, there are no clear pointers to those behind the increasingly bold attacks.
Some low-level militant operatives have been arrested, but police have made no headway in identifying those planning the attacks. Families of victims complain of slow and ineffective police investigations.
