Dhaka: Radical Islamists hurled crude bombs and engaged in a shootout with police in Bangladesh on Thursday that killed three people, including two policemen, and a terrorist at the country’s biggest Eid gathering nearly a week after the deadly attack on a Dhaka cafe that left 22 people dead
Bombs exploded near an Eid prayer gathering in Sholakia in northern Kishoreganj district where at least 200,000 people had gathered, police said
Police said one constable was dead and at least 13 others were injured. A second policeman later succumbed to his wounds on way to hospital in neighbouring Mymensingh
A woman was also killed during the shootout while she was witnessing the incident from the window of her house near the scene, the Prothom Alo newspaper reported
One suspected attacker was also killed in the exchange of fire with police at the blast site as roads in the area were cordoned off
“One suspect has been held and about 13 injured,” said Abu Sayem, additional superintendent of police in Kishoreganj
Local reports said six to seven people led the attack with sharp weapons on policemen when they were frisking people entering the Eidgah ground
Kishoreganj ASP Obaidul Hasan said the blasts spread panic among thousands who were beginning to gather near the ground, but the prayers were not disrupted, bdnews24.com reported
“That was probably a crude bomb. The facts are still unclear,” he said
The incident comes close on the heels of last week’s deadly attacks in Dhaka which killed over 22 people mostly foreigners including a 19-year-old Indian girl
The Islamic State (IS) terror group on Wednesday issued a new chilling video warning the Bangladesh government of more attacks in the country and across the world until Shariah law is established globally, saying last week’s gruesome attack here was just “a glimpse”
The video message believed to be issued from Raqqa, the stronghold of the terror group in strife-torn Syria was released on YouTube
Islamist gunmen stormed a popular restaurant in Dhaka’s posh diplomatic enclave late on Friday killing 22 people, most of them foreigners from Italy, Japan, India and the US in an attack claimed by the Islamic State
The IS video has gone viral on social media among Bangladeshis still recovering from the shock of the brutal slaughter of 20 hostages and two police officers in Dhaka.