Dhaka, February 6: According to the report, police said on Sunday that unidentified persons vandalised fourteen Hindu temples in northwestern Bangladesh in a series of orchestrated attacks overnight.

"Unidentified people carried out the attacks under the cover of darkness, vandalising idols in 14 temples in three unions (lowest local government tier)," said Bidyanath Barman, a Hindu community leader at Baliadangi "upazila" or "sub-district" in Thakurgaon.

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The general secretary of the upazila's Puja Celebration Council, Bidyanath Barman said that some of the idols were destroyed while some were found in pond waters along the temple sites. "We are in the dark about their (culprits) identity but we want to bring them to justice after investigations," Barman further said.

Samar Chattarjee, the leader of Hindu community and union parishad chairman said, “The region was always known to be an area of excellent interfaith harmony as no such heinous incident took place here in the past."

Chattarjee further elaborated by saying, "The (majority) Muslim community does not have any dispute with us (Hindus)... we just cannot understand who could be these culprits."

Officer in-charge of Baliadangi police station Khairul Anam said  that the attacks took place between late Saturday night and Sunday dawn at several villages.

"It clearly appears to be a case of an orchestrated attack to disrupt the peaceful situation of the country," Thakurgaon's police chief Jahangir Hossain said.

He added that a police investigation was launched immediately to track down the persons. "I assure you they will have to face stern legal actions," he said.

"This (attack) is the manifestation of a conspiracy against peace and communal harmony...this is a serious crime and the perpetrators will face the music," Thakurgaon's deputy commissioner or administrative chief Mahbubur Rahman said.

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- With inputs from agencies

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