Japanese shot dead in B’desh, second foreigner killed this week

A 66-year-old Japanese man, known for philanthropic work, was shot by motorbike-borne masked assailants in Bangladesh on Saturday, the second foreigner to be gunned down in a week after an Italian aid worker was killed in a near-identical attack claimed by the Islamic State group.

Hosi Koniyo, who was headed to an agriculture farm on the outskirts of northern Rangpur city in a rickshaw, was shot thrice in the chest, shoulder and hand by the yet-unidentified assassins. “It appears to be a target killing as masked assailants shot him thrice. The Japanese gentleman died instantly,” said officer-in-charge of the local police station Rezaul Karim.

He added that doctors declared him brought dead and <g data-gr-id="18">body</g> was taken to a state-run hospital in Rangpur. A frequent visitor to Bangladesh, Koniyo had been in Rangpur for the past six months and was familiar in the neighbourhood because of his philanthropic work. He had set up the farm, where he visited daily by a rickshaw, with <g data-gr-id="16">help</g> of a local businessman.