DHAKA (TIP): The Islamic State (ISIS) on Thursday claimed it was behind the shooting and injuring an Italian priest in Bangladesh, in the third attack on foreigners in the country by the dreaded group.

The 57-year-old priest Piero Parolari was shot at from close range by unidentified motorbike-borne assailants while he was cycling down to a Catholic missionary hospital in northern Dinajpur where he also worked as a doctor.

The priest, who came to Bangladesh 35 years ago, suffered serious injuries in his neck and skull and was the second Italian national to have been targetted by the ISIS in recent weeks.

“Security detachments of soldiers of the caliphate in Bangladesh carried out some unique operations (including)… Targeting the Italian crusader foreigner Piero Parolari,” the jihadist monitoring organization SITE (Search for International Terrorist Entities) quoted ISIS as saying.

The outfit also claimed two operations in Rangpur including an attack on a Bahai community leader, according to Rita Katz, director of SITE intelligence group, who posted the information on her official twitter handle.

“Piero Parolari is 3rd foreigner to be claimed by ISIS in Bangladesh since September 29, making the country hot spot for such attacks,” she said.

Parolari is also the third foreigner to have been attacked in Bangladesh in the past three months. Another Italian national, a 50-year-old aid worker Cesare Tavella, was shot and killed on September 28, and a similar attack just five days later on the outskirts of Rangpur city in which a 66-year-old Japanese farmer, Hoshi Kunio, was also killed by unidentified assailants riding motorbikes.