DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Masked assailants riding a motorbike shot and killed a Japanese man in northern Bangladesh on Saturday, police said, the second foreigner in a week to be gunned down in the South Asian country.

The incident took place at Mahiganj village in Rangpur district, said Rezaul Karim, a police official.

The victim was identified as Kunio Hoshi, around 50, Karim said, adding that Hoshi had started a farm in Rangpur, about 300 kilometers (185 miles) north of Dhaka, to produce grass.

Local residents said two bike-riding assailants shot three times at Hoshi on Saturday morning, Kari said. Police have detained four people for questioning in the case, he said.

Mohammad Kibria, an assistant sub-inspector of police in Rangpur, said Hoshi was taken to the emergency unit of the state-run hospital, where doctors declared him dead.

"The dead body has been kept in the morgue. It can be clear after further investigation how and why he was killed," Kibria said.

Ayub Ali, a witness, said three men were standing near a road and they fired at Hoshi as he passed by on a rickshaw.

"They fired at him while he was on the rickshaw and left the scene," Ali said.

Officials at the Japanese Embassy in Dhaka could not immediately be reached for comment. In Tokyo, the foreign ministry said officials were trying to confirm reports.

Saturday's killing took place five days after an Italian aid worker was killed by motorbike-riding assailants in Dhaka.

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for that attack. The government, however, dismissed the claim, saying there was no evidence. It described the killing as an "isolated incident."

The Italian aid worker, Cesare Tavella, had been working in Dhaka for a Netherlands-based church cooperative, serving as program manager for a project focusing on food security and economic development for people living in rural areas in Bangladesh.

Bangladesh, where most of the population is Muslim, has been struggling in recent months with a rise in violence claimed by hard-line Islamic groups, banning several that have been blamed for killing four bloggers this year.