DHAKA - Police in western Bangladesh said Wednesday they have armed villagers with bamboo sticks and whistles in an effort to deter militants from attacking people of minority faiths.

Officers said they wanted to empower people to act against militants who have killed dozens of secular activists, Hindus and other minorities across the country in recent years.

The move comes after a Hindu priest was found slaughtered in a rice field in western Bangladesh, the latest in a series of gruesome murders targeting secular campaigners and religious minorities in the mainly Muslim country.

"We want to change the scenario. We want the people to be cautious, safe and united against militancy and other crimes," said Ehsan Ullah, police chief in the western district of Magura, which has a large Hindu population.

Ullah said the sticks and whistles were aimed partly at raising morale among local people.

"Almost all recent (militant) attacks took place during a time when roads were empty and the local community was busy with farming or asleep," he told AFP.

Police denied the scheme could be open to abuse, despite concerns from some human rights activists that the move could trigger mob lynchings.

The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for the Hindu priest's murder and other recent attacks. But authorities instead blame homegrown militant groups and say IS and other international groups have no presence in Bangladesh. Last Friday the police launched a crackdown on militant groups in Bangladesh in the wake of the violence, arresting more than 11,000 people in recent days.

HINDU LECTURER WOUNDED IN ATTACK

A Hindu college lecturer was seriously wounded after being hacked by three men in Bangladesh Wednesday, police said, in an attack that resembles a recent spate of brutal assaults on religious minorities.

Ripon Chakrabarti, 50, a mathematics lecturer, cried out as he was attacked at the door of his home in the southern town of Madripur at around 5:00 pm, leading locals to catch one of the assailants, police said.

It comes amid a week-long police crackdown on militant groups in Muslim-majority Bangladesh in the wake of recent violence by suspected Islamists, with more than 11,000 people arrested since Friday.

"He was hacked in his head, neck and shoulders. He has been sent to a big hospital in the nearby city of Barisal after his condition deteriorated," police inspector Kamrul Ahsan told AFP.

Police were questioning the alleged attacker for clues as to the motive, he said, adding that he is a college student who hails from the northeast of the country.

"So far, he has not said anything on why they attacked the lecturer," Ahsan said.

However, the latest attack appeared to bear the hallmarks of recent attacks on minorities and secular activists by suspected Islamist militants.

Nearly 50 people have been killed over the last three years in a wave of gruesome murders targeting Hindus, Christians, Sufi Muslims, secular activists and foreigners, with most blamed on or claimed by Islamist militants.