Bombs exploded near an Eid prayer gathering in Sholakia in northern Kishoreganj district where at least 2,00,000 people had gathered, police said.
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Prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s government has consistently denied that worldwide militant networks have any presence in Bangladesh, but has been criticised for failing to tackle a rise in Islamic extremism.
Police said at least 13 other persons were injured in the blasts at Azimuddin High School gate, a kilometre away from the ground, around 9 am. “They are in a critical condition and have been shifted to a military hospital in Dhaka”.
The violence occurred just days after a deadly hostage-taking at a Dhaka restaurant that left 28 dead, a lot of them foreigners.
Two police officers and 20 hostages nine Italians, seven Japanese, an Indian and three students at American universities were killed.
Late Tuesday the Islamic State terror group, which had claimed responsibility for Friday’s hostage siege as it happened, issued a video threatening more violence to come, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, a terror monitoring service.
Meanwhile, it is also said that Bangladeshi officials misinterpreted messages on social media about the attack. “They will go straight to hell”, said Mr Masuod.
External Affairs Spokesperson Vikas Swarup, who is now in South Africa accompanying Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said,”Just to clarify, reports of an NSG team visiting Bangladesh are false”. That attack was claimed by Islamic State.
“Two policemen, an attacker and a woman who was shot during the gunfight were killed”, national police spokesman A.K.M. Shahidur Rahman told AFP.
Meanwhile, authorities were continuing to investigate Friday’s attack by a group of young Bangladeshi men who were later identified as coming from well-off families.
It was the worst in a recent wave of extremist attacks in Bangladesh targeting atheists, religious minorities and other so-called enemies of Islam.
The Prime Minister also appealed to parents to inform authorities of their missing children after it emerged that most of the hostage-takers in the July 1 Dhaka cafe incident had vanished several months ago. “The congregation was not affected by the clashes”, he said.
“We will you to track them down using modern technology, if required they will be given treatment in specialised facilities”, she said.
Instead, Hasina’s government has accused her political opponents of backing the militants’ agenda, an allegation the opposition parties deny.
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“Uploading, sharing, commenting or liking any video, images or speech in the social media such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube in support of the Islamic State or militancy is a punishable offence”.
