The Bangladesh Police on Monday said they had identified several attackers behind the vandalism of temples and houses owned by Hindus on Sunday. They have also filed two cases in connection with the incidents, The Daily Star reported. The attacks took place in Brahmanbaria district.

Hundreds of people attacked five temples in the country's Nasirnagar upazila and raided about a hundred houses on October 30, according the the Bangladeshi daily. The attacks are suspected to be a hate crime triggered by a Facebook post, which allegedly hurt sentiments of the Muslim majority in the country. The controversial post from the account of 27-year-old Rasraj Das shows an idol of Hindu god Shiva on the Kaba, which is a large cube-shaped building inside the al-Masjid al-Haram mosque in Mecca.

Locals handed Das over to the police on Saturday, and a case was filed against him. Claiming no knowledge of the post, Das apologised for the confusion and said, "Someone has posted a photograph from my account without my knowledge."

Superintendent of the Brahmanbaria Police Abdul Karim said around 500 people were booked in the two cases, The Daily Star reported. Nasirnagar Police Station officer in-charge Abdul Quader said temples and houses in the Hindu-dominated neighbourhoods of Kashipara, Daspara, Ghoshpara, Duttapara and Nomoshudropara had also been targeted. A few residents of the locality said they suspect the involvement of the Hefajat-e Islam's Dhaka city unit. But the group has denied the accusations.

People protesting against the attacks will unite under the banner of "Sompriti Somabesh" in a rally on Monday.

There has been a worrying rise in attacks on members of religious minorities, secular writers and activists in Bangladesh over the last year. In July, two Hindu priests were killed within 24 hours in the country. A Buddhist monk was hacked to death in Bandarban district in May.

On May 1, a Hindu tailor was killed while sitting outside his shop in Tangail. In April, a senior editor working with Bangladesh's first LGBT magazine Roopbaan, Xulhaz Mannan, was killed along with his friend Tanay Mojumdar in Dhaka. The al-Qaeda had claimed those murders. On April 23, a university professor was murdered near his home in Rajshahi.

The image is representative.