bdnews24.com
Italian priest shot in Bangladesh
Dinajpur Correspondent, bdnews24.com
Published: 2015-11-18 09:53:29.0 BdST Updated: 2015-11-18 16:55:27.0 BdST
Unidentified assailants have shot an Italian priest in Dinajpur, police say.
Piero Parolari, 78, has lived and worked as a missionary in Bangladesh for 25 years — 12 of them in Dinajpur. He is a doctor.
A source in the Dinajpur diocese told bdnews24.com that Father Parolari, after his morning prayers at the Suihari Catholic Mission, was cycling down to the St Vincent Hospital, which is run by the local diocese.
Locals told police that three men on a motorcycle swept past Parolari and fired at him.
The missionary was hit on the neck and fell down from his bicycle.
Locals rushed him to the Dinajpur Medical College Hospital, where doctors attended to his injuries.
A doctor at St Vincent Hospital told bdnews24.com that Parolari’s condition was now stable.
Parolai was sent to Dhaka on Wednesday afternoon for better treatment, the doctor added.
The motive of the attack was as yet unclear.
Piero Parolari is the second Italian national — and the third foreigner — to have been attacked in Bangladesh since September.
He is also the second Christian priest to be attacked in the country.
Father Luke Sarkar, a Bangladesh national, had been knifed in his church in Pabna on Oct 5. But he has recovered from his injuries.
Italian aid worker Cesare Tavella was shot dead on Sep 28 at the Gulshan diplomatic enclave in Dhaka.
On Oct 3, Japanese national Kunio Hoshi was shot dead in the northern district of Rangpur.
US monitoring group SITE claimed that Middle Eastern radical group Islamic State had owned up responsibility for both the murders.
But the Bangladesh government and security agencies ruled out the involvement of the IS and said 'elements out to destabilise the country' were behind the murders.
Police have arrested some professional killers and the brother of a former BNP councillor for suspected involvement in the murder of Tavella.
A local BNP leader has been arrested over the murder of Kunio Hoshi, who had converted to Islam during his stay in Bangladesh.
Several foreign governments have issued travel advisories for their citizens after these killings, asking them to adopt great caution during their stay in the country.
The Australian and South African cricket boards have put on hold the tour of their men and women cricket teams to Bangladesh.
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