Villagers walk near the area where Japanese citizen Kunio Hoshi was killed, at Mahiganj village in Bangladesh’s Rangpur district, on Sunday.

Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Sunday dismissed the Daesh group’s claim to have killed two foreigners, saying police still had no evidence to confirm the jihadist group was behind the murders.

Her remarks came a day after 66-year-old Japanese citizen Hoshi Kunio was shot dead in northern Bangladesh, the second foreigner to be murdered in the South Asian nation in less than a week.

A 50-year-old Italian, Cesare Tavella, was shot dead last week near Dhaka’s diplomatic zone in another attack claimed by Daesh.

“We have still not found any involvement (of Daesh). We have to investigate,” Hasina told reporters at a press briefing in her office.

“We’ve got no clues. If someone claims responsibility, why should we have to accept it?” she said.

The prime minister added groups such as Daesh do not operate in the country, saying “our intelligence agencies are active… we will not allow any such activities in Bangladesh.”

Italian aid worker Tavella was shot three times on Sept. 28 by attackers who fled on a motorcycle — an attack the Bangladeshi government described as an “isolated incident” in an attempt to calm security fears.

Kunio was riding in a rickshaw when he was shot dead by three unidentified attackers riding a motorbike in the town of Kaunia in Rangpur district. Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal has rejected any Daesh presence in the country but said the two killings appeared to be linked.

“I can again say boldly that there is no existence of Daesh in Bangladesh,” he said on Sunday, adding such murders were “an attempt to create instability in the country.”

Police have launched a formal investigation into three unidentified suspects for the murder of Kunio, without naming a particular group, senior police officer Saifur Rahman told AFP.

He said police had also questioned four other people in connection with the inquiry since Saturday as they hunt the key suspects.

Kunio was a frequent visitor to Bangladesh and worked on a farming project in Rangpur, about 300 kilometers (180 miles) north of Dhaka.

Kunio’s landlord Jakaria Bala told Bengali daily Prothom Alo that the victim had leased a piece of land in a village near Kaunia town to grow grass for cattle.

Police have stepped up security in the capital’s diplomatic zone with heavily armed officers patrolling key roads and entry points in the wake of the latest murder.

“Security has been boosted for both foreign diplomats and foreigners across the country,” police spokesman Nazrul Islam told AFP.

“Our intelligence unit is also deployed to provide security to any vulnerable targets,” he said.

Law enforcement agencies will enforce curbs on multiple pillion riders on motorcycles, Home Minister Kamal said, as both murders involved three people on bikes.