The Islamic State terrorist group has claimed responsibility for the shooting death of a Japanese citizen in northern Bangladesh on Saturday, days after the group said it was behind the killing of an Italian aid worker in Dhaka.
Police said masked assailants riding a motorbike shot and killed Kunio Hoshi in the village of Mahiganj.
Authorities said Hoshi worked at a farming project in Rangpur district, 300 kilometers from Dhaka.
The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack on Twitter, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors jihadi online postings. The report could not be independently confirmed.
The attack happened less than a week after the Italian aid worker was shot in the capital. IS claimed responsibility for that assault, but the government dismissed the claim, calling the attack an "isolated incident."
Muslim-majority Bangladesh prides itself on being a secular nation. But the country has been struggling to contain rapidly rising militant Islamist groups, who have killed at least 10 secular bloggers and activists in the past 2½ years.
