CWM - Hossain Ali, a retired Bangladeshi man who converted from Islam to Christianity in the 1990s, was brutally murdered in Kurigram on March 22.

The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the attack, which followed the recent murders of a Shia Muslim doctor and a Hindu cleric, the Dhaka-based Daily News reported.

“He was a man of goodness and simplicity,” Ali’s Presbyterian pastor told UCA News. “We are still wondering why he should be targeted for such a heinous murder.”

“We live in a secular state, but religious minorities continue to be targeted, and the government is failing protect them,” added Theophil Nokrek, secretary of the Bangladesh Catholic bishops’ justice and peace commission.

The South Asian nation of 169 million is nearly 90% Muslim, nearly 10% Hindu, and 0.2% Catholic.

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