With investigators still nowhere near solving the mystery of last week's murder of an Italian in Dhaka, unidentified assailants yesterday gunned down another foreigner – this time a Japanese – in the northern district of Rangpur.
Kunio Hoshi, 65, was killed in broad daylight in Alutari area under Kawnia upazila of Rangpur district around 11am yesterday when he was going to his farm.
Meanwhile, international Islamist militant organisation Islamic State (IS) has claimed responsibility for killing Hoshi and threatened of more attacks yesterday.
“There will continue to be a series of ongoing security operations against nationals of crusader coalition countries, they will not have safety or a livelihood in Muslim lands," the group tweeted, reports news agency Reuters.
Earlier, after the murder of Italian national Cesare Tavella in Dhaka last week, the IS made the same claim. But the Government of Bangladesh said it had found no IS links in Tavella murder.
The government also claimed that the militant group had no existence in Bangladesh because all of its previous attempts to recruit and organise had been stamped out with arrests.
According to Rezaul Karim, OC of the Kawnia police station, the assailants had been waiting at a certain spot which Hoshi passed every morning on his way to work at Katu Alutari.
The OC also said four people had been detained for interrogation. They are Hoshi's business partner Hira, house-owner Zakaria Haque Bala, rickshaw-puller Munnaf and a local resident Murad Hossain.
Hoshi took a farmland on lease from a Bangladeshi family who live in the Munshipara area of Rangpur district. Two members of this family live in Japan. He cultivated grazing-friendly Napier grass on a two-acre land of the farm.
Before being detained by police, Zakaria, owner of the house that the Japanese lived in, told reporters that like everyday, Hoshi left home in the morning for the farm. “We got the news of the murder much later.”
Shah Alam, a member of the family whose land Hoshi took lease of, told reporters that he was a jolly man and built good relations with everyone he met. “I do not believe he could have any enemies.”
Hoshi used to go from home to his workplace on Munnaf's rickshaw everyday. Munnaf is now a prime witness to the murder.
Before being detained by police, he told reporters: “We [he and Hoshi] were going to the farm in the morning as usual. On the way, two masked men, both in shirts and jeans, stopped us and shot Hoshi and ran towards a motorbike. Another man, wearing a black helmet, was waiting on the bike at a little distance.”
The place in Dhaka's Gulshan area where Italian national Cesare Tavella was killed last week was dark and deserted; but yesterday's crime scene was right in the middle of a busy street, just 300 yards from a busy market.
After the shooting, Hoshi was taken to the Rangpur Medical College Hospital where the on-duty doctors declared him dead. His body had been kept at the hospital morgue because he has no relatives in Bangladesh.
ASM Barkat Ullah, a doctor working at the hospital, said that Hoshi had three bullet wounds on the chest, waist and shoulder.
Hoshi's passport shows that he had come to Bangladesh through the Burimari land port in Lalmonirhat on August 8 of this year. He had visa until April 13 next year.
When contacted, Abdur Razzak, chief (SP) of Rangpur district police, told the Dhaka Tribune: “Hoshi came to Bangladesh on multiple visa. But he did not inform local police that he was staying in Rangpur. We are looking into this as well.
“As of yet, we are not sure about the motive of the murder. Primarily, we are checking his business relations and have detained his business partner [Hira] for interrogation,” the SP said.
Requesting anonymity, an official of Rangpur police told the Dhaka Tribune: “Inspecting the crime scene, we have reached a conclusion that the killers were waiting for the victim since early morning. It looked like they had done homework on the route Hoshi used. It is a planned killing; the killers took just four to five minutes for completing the mission and quickly left the area.”
Teams of RAB and the Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI), who are assisting the investigation, visited the spot after the murder. Law enforcement agencies have set up a dozen check posts in and around Rangpur town and also the neighbouring districts.
Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday that there were similarities between how Tavella and Hoshi had been murdered – both the killings were conducted by three masked men who came on motorbikes and used pistols.
“The two killing are interconnected and a vested interest might be working behind them,” he said. “We have taken both the killings seriously and hopefully will be able to identify the killers and know the motives soon.”
Attacks on foreigners are rare in Bangladesh, but there has been a spike in Islamist violence over the past year, in which four online critics of religious militancy were hacked to death, among them was a US citizen of Bangladesh origin.
Last week, the US, UK and Italy issued alerts for their citizens living in Bangladesh, asking them to limit their attendance at events where foreigners may gather.
Australia cricket team postponed its Bangladesh tour on Thursday over security concerns. They were due in Bangladesh on September 28.