An elderly Buddhist monk has been hacked to death in a temple in Bangladesh, the latest in a spate of murders of religious minorities.

Police say there have been seven such murders in Bangladesh since the start of last month alone.

No group has yet said it carried out the murder in the remote southeastern district of Bandarban, but it is similar to several recent murders by suspected Islamist militants.

Villagers found Maung Shue U Chak's body in a pool of blood inside the Buddhist temple.

Police say the 75-year-old appeared to have been attacked by at least four people.

"We saw human footprints in the temple and found that four to five people entered the compound," said Jashim Uddin, deputy police chief of Bandarban.

He added that U Chak was living alone in the hillside temple after recently leaving farming to become a full-time monk.

Human rights lawyer Jyotirmoy Barua, who is close to the country's Buddhist community, said U Chak had received anonymous death threats.

"He became a monk just one and a half years ago. He had received death threats, but nobody took it seriously," he said.

Suspected Islamists have claimed responsibility or been blamed for dozens of murders of minority Sufi, Shiite and Ahmadi Muslims, Hindus, Christians and foreigners in recent years.

The killing follows the murder of two prominent gay activists, a law student, a university professor and a Hindu tailor in April.

And in February, a Hindu priest was beheaded in northern Bangladesh.

Islamic State and a Bangladeshi branch of al Qaeda have said that they carried out several of the killings.

But the secular government in Dhaka insists the two groups are not behind the attacks, saying they have no known presence in Bangladesh. It blames the killings on homegrown militants.