Italian doctor working as missionary shot in Bangladesh

An Italian doctor working as a missionary was shot and wounded in the neck during an attack by three assailants in northern Bangladesh on Wednesday and was admitted to hospital, police and a doctor said, reporting the latest in a series of attacks on foreigners.

The assault on the man, identified by Italian newspapers as Piero Parolari, in the Muslim-majority country follows the killing of another Italian and a Japanese citizen in attacks claimed by Islamic State at the end of September and early October. The latest attack took place in Dinajpur district, 414 km (258 miles) north of the capital Dhaka, where Parolari has been carrying out missionary work and medical services among the poor for the last 10 years. Police had earlier said he had been stabbed.

The victim has been moved to a hospital in Dianjpur town, according to Abdul Khaleque, officer in charge of Dinajpur Sadar police station. The officer did not give any motive for the attack, but said it followed other recent attacks on foreigners.

Bangladesh has suffered a rising tide of Islamist violence over the past year. Four online critics of religious militancy have been hacked to death, among them a U.S. citizen of Bangladesh origin. And, on Sept. 28, an Italian aid worker was shot in Dhaka's diplomatic quarter by three gunmen on a motorcycle. A few days later a Japanese man was also shot.

Islamic State also claimed responsibility for the bombing of a Shi'ite shrine in Dhaka last month that killed one person and wounded dozens. The government has rejected the Islamic State claims of responsibility and has blamed the rising violence on political opponents.