Unidentified assailants shot dead Baidyanath Prasad Singh, a senior Janata Dal-United leader, at the Vishnupad Temple in Gaya, Bihar, on Sunday morning, the police said.

The assailants shot Singh five times when he was coming out of the temple after offering prayers with members of his family. He died on the spot.

Singh, a member of the executive committee of the ruling JD-U, was also the principal of Chandra Shekhar Janata College in Gaya.

The number of the assassins involved in the attack was not known, police said.