Suicide bombers target thousands at Eid celebrations in Bangladesh

Suspected Islamic militants yesterday carried out a deadly attack near a mosque in Dhaka, Bangladeshi capital, where hundreds of thousands had gathered for the Eid prayers.

After the attack, the country’s information minister, Hasanul Haq Inu, said the government was not ruling out the possibility of a link between home-grown militant groups and trans-national terror outfits.

So far, top Bangladeshi officials have dismissed claims of responsibility by Islamic State and al-Qaida for a surge of militant violence in the past year that has mostly targeted liberals and minorities, instead insisting that local militants or political opposition groups are responsible.

The latest attacks occurred yesterday during Eid celebrations when five suspected Islamists armed with crude bombs and machetes attacked a security post near a mosque that hosts the largest congregation in the country.

Two police officers and a woman were killed and at least nine others injured in the attack in Kishoregunj district, about 140 kilometers from the capital, Dhaka. One militant was killed and three were arrested.

The strike came just days after the country’s worst-ever terror attack in which gunmen killed 20 people they took hostage in a bakery in Dhaka.
 That assault had targeted mainly foreigners, but yesterday’s attack was unusual in targeting a Muslim gathering on one of Islam’s holiest days.

Haq Inu told VOA that it was too early to say who was responsible for the latest attack.
 
“As far as our information goes, as far as our interrogation with arrested terrorists, there is no such organisational evidence of Bangladeshi terrorists and the IS, that is our position. But we are looking into the option of a link between IS, Pakistan, Jamaat-e-Islaami of Bangladesh,” Inu said.

The government has arrested thousands of people in recent weeks, even while denying that international terror groups are involved. IS has claimed its fighters carried out the assault on the bakery and threatened more strikes in a video on Tuesday.

The growing violence in the country has raised fears of rising radicalism in a traditionally moderate Muslim country of 160 million people. However top officials continue to deny that such a threat exists.

The information minister insisted the attackers were targeting the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and do not have an Islamist agenda. 

“It is a political action. It is no relation with religion, they are actually politically motivated to create a situation in Bangladesh so that the government becomes, feels disturbed,” he told VOA.