AFP/Dhaka

The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for shooting and wounding an Italian priest in Bangladesh this week, according to a notice released Thursday by the SITE Intelligence Group.

"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 organisation SITE quoted IS as saying.

Parolari, who worked as a priest and a doctor at Suihari Catholic Mission in the northern city of Dinajpur, was shot by three gunmen on a motorbike on Wednesday.

It follows the murders in recent weeks of an Italian faith-based aid worker and a Japanese farmer, in attacks also claimed by IS.

"Unless we can find out who has actually executed the operations, we can't say who or which group was behind the attack," Dinajpur police chief Ruhul Amin told AFP.

The attack bore "some similarities with the previous attacks on foreigners," he added.

All three of the recent attacks on foreigners involved gunmen riding on motorcycles.

Bangladesh authorities have previously said there is no evidence that Islamic State militants are active in the country.