DHAKA (Reuters) - Machete-wielding assailants hacked to death a village doctor and wounded a university teacher in western Bangladesh on Friday (May 20), in what the police suspected was the latest in a series of attacks by Islamists in the majority-Muslim nation.

The attackers rode a motorcycle, which they used to block a motorcycle ridden by their victims in the western district of Kushtia, 245km from Dhaka, local police chief Mohammad Sahabuddin Chowdhury said.

The homeopathic doctor, Dr Mir Sanaur Rahman, 55, was killed on the spot, and his companion, identified as Mr Saifuzzaman, 45, suffered serious wounds.

Police found a bloody machete at the scene. "We suspect Islamist militants are behind the attack," police chief Chowdhury said.

He said police were also checking whether the victims had any enemies or any other factors involved.

Over the past year, the South Asian nation of 160 million has seen a surge in violent attacks that have targeted atheist bloggers, academics, religious minorities and foreign aid workers.