In less than a week after the worst attack in the country, a mass Eid prayer gathering in Bangladesh’s Kishoreganj district fell pray to a terror attack on Thursday, where three people including two policemen and a woman were killed and seven were wounded.
There was a bomb detonation followed by a gun battle.
One attacker was gunned down and another was captured alive by security forces, as reported by Bangladesh Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu.
Bangladesh’s second terror attack in a week transpired 140 km from Dhaka, where seven terrorists stormed a popular cafe called Holey Artisan bakery last Friday, killing 22 people.
Police operations during the bomb attack near the Sholakia Eid in Solakia, Kishoregonj, Bangladesh
Purportedly, a group of people attacked one of the policemen with a knife and pelted homemade bombs at a school about a kilo-meter from a prayer ground where at least 2,00,000 people had thronged to mark the end of Eid. The terrorists are believed to be hiding in the school.
Mahbubur Rahman, a police officer in the district control room, said: “They threw a bomb at a police check post. A police constable was killed in the explosion. One attacker was killed and another was arrested.”
Tafazzal Hosain, the district’s Deputy Police chief, said that several people had taken part in the attack and some had been armed with machetes- a hallmark of recent attacks in Bangladesh.
Some reports suggest that the attack was targeted at the Imam or chief cleric of Kishoreganj, who is known for his liberal views. He had allegedly started a signature campaign to condemn terrorism in the name of Islam.
Bangladesh has faced a growing a wave of attacks since the beginning of the year, many of which have been claimed by the Islamic State (IS) or an offshoot of the Al-Qaeda network.
On Wednesday, the IS terror group had issued a chilling video openly threatening more attacks, saying: “What you witnessed in Bangladesh was a glimpse. This will be repeat, repeat until you lose and we win and the Sharia (Islamic law) is established throughout the world. “
The Bangladesh government has fended off the claim that international Jihadist networks have gained a foothold in the country and have said the Dhaka attack was carried out by members of a local outlawed Islamist militant group.
