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ISIS Claims Responsibility for Attack in Bangladesh ISIS Claims Responsibility for Attack in Bangladesh
(about 2 hours later)
DHAKA, Bangladesh — Three bombs exploded early Saturday morning during a giant procession here in the Bangladesh capital honoring the Shiite Muslim holiday of Ashura, killing at least one person, wounding dozens more and further fraying nerves in a city already on edge over reports of extremist threats. DHAKA, Bangladesh — Three bombs exploded early Saturday morning during a giant procession here commemorating the Shiite Muslim holiday of Ashura, killing one person, wounding dozens more and unsettling a country that has little history of sectarian tension.
A social-media account believed to be operated by the Islamic State group issued a statement online claiming responsibility for the bombing, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors extremist messages and propaganda. For weeks, Dhaka, the Bangladeshi capital, has been on edge over reports of unusual terrorist threats. After two foreigners were shot several weeks ago, some embassies warned their citizens against walking outside or attending large gatherings.
The statement said “soldiers of the Caliphate in Bangladesh” were able to detonate explosives in a temple of “polytheists in the city of Dhaka, during the holding of their polytheist rituals.” Saturday’s bombings were the first time Shiite Muslims had been targeted in Bangladesh, officials said. Before resuming the procession hours after the blasts, marchers stood mutely over flyspecked smears of blood where a boy had been fatally wounded.
It was the third act of violence in Bangladesh that an Islamic State account has claimed in the past month, after the murders of two foreigners, an Italian man and a Japanese man. The boy was identified as Sajjad Hossain Sanju, 16, an officer at the Chawkbazar Police Station said. The police said 104 people were wounded by the explosions.
The Ashura procession, organizers say, has proceeded uneventfully for 400 years, drawing throngs of Sunni Muslims who wind through the narrow streets of Old Dhaka alongside their Shia neighbors. The procession, organizers said, has proceeded without any violence for 400 years.
There is virtually no history of sectarian tension between Bangladesh’s Sunnis and its tiny minority of Shiite Muslims. Throngs of Sunnis traditionally join their Shiite neighbors, members of a tiny minority in Bangladesh, as they weave through the narrow streets of Old Dhaka for the Ashura commemoration.
Shiite Muslims who proceeded to march later in the day said they were still grappling with the notion that terrorists might attack Bangladeshis based on their sect. Many were grappling with the idea that sectarian violence was possible here.
“Earlier, Pakistan was the country where the Shia were under attack,” said Syed Ibrahim Khalil Razavi, who was walking barefoot down a major thoroughfare at the head of a procession that numbered in the thousands. “Earlier, Pakistan was the country where the Shia were under attack,” said Syed Ibrahim Khalil Razavi, who walked barefoot near the head of a march in central Dhaka.
“Now they target Shias in other countries, like Syria and Iraq,” he said. “I suppose we cannot rule out the possibility that this could happen in Bangladesh.”“Now they target Shias in other countries, like Syria and Iraq,” he said. “I suppose we cannot rule out the possibility that this could happen in Bangladesh.”
The attack came as a new jolt to a city already anxious over Islamist violence. A social-media account believed to be operated by the Islamic State published a statement claiming responsibility for the bombing, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors radical Islamic messages and propaganda.
After years of relative dormancy, militant groups have become more visible over the past several years, killing Bangladeshi activists and writers who were openly critical of fundamentalist Islam, and releasing “hit lists” of others. The statement said “soldiers of the Caliphate in Bangladesh” were able to detonate explosives in a temple of “polytheists in the city of Dhaka, during the holding of their polytheist rituals.”
Late last month, several foreign governments reported that they had gathered intelligence suggesting that an international terrorist organization was planning an attack on foreigners in Bangladesh. That announcement was followed, ominously, by the shootings of two foreigners, each of which was claimed by social media accounts linked to the Islamic State group, also known as ISIS or ISIL. It was the third act of violence in Bangladesh that the Islamic State has claimed through social-media statements in the past month, after the murders of two foreigners, an Italian man and a Japanese man.
Bangladeshi authorities have questioned that claim, saying that they had traced the crimes to activists from a banned pro-Islamic party, Jamaat-e-Islami, and the opposition Bangladeshi National Party. On Saturday, the governing Awami League issued a statement blaming the Bangladeshi National Party and Jamaat-e-Islami for the attack in Dhaka. For several years, domestic militants have carried out occasional assassinations of writers or activists critical of strict interpretations of Islam.
“There is no existence of Islamic State in Bangladesh,” said Quamrul Islam, Bangladeshi’s food minister, who visited the site of the bombing on Saturday. Then, late last month, several foreign governments reported that they had gathered intelligence suggesting that a terrorist group was planning an attack on foreigners in Bangladesh.
The Dhaka attack struck an event that is the highlight of the year for Dhaka’s Shiite minority, and which underlines its easy relationship with the Sunni majority. A banned domestic radical Islamist group, the Ansarullah Bangla Team, on Monday threatened to attack media outlets if they continued to employ unveiled women as reporters or news anchors.
“This is the old part of Dhaka,” said Mir Zulfikar Ali, president of the Hossaini Welfare Association, which helps to coordinate the event. “The Sunnis were born, the Shia were born, they grew up over decades and they developed brotherly relations.” Shafqat Munir, a security analyst with the Bangladesh Institute of Peace and Security Studies, said the sectarian threat was new, and would have longstanding consequences.
“Somebody from outside is trying to destroy this brotherly relation,” he added. “I do not know who it is.” “They are trying to brand anyone other than Sunnis as heretics and deviants,” he said. “They are trying to reorient the way Bangladeshis view Islam.”
More than 40,000 people were gathered at the procession’s start when the first explosion occurred, followed by two others about 15 seconds apart. Security camera footage shows a densely packed crowd surging away from the first explosion, only to recoil from the second one in the direction they were running. Though the United States has built a close counterterrorism partnership with Bangladesh, a rift has emerged over the past month, mainly around the question of whether the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, has the capacity to organize attacks in Bangladesh.
In her public statements, Bangladesh’s prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, has been adamant that the terrorist attacks originated with her domestic opposition, namely the pro-Islamic Jamaat-e-Islami and the Bangladeshi National Party.
Officials from Ms. Hasina’s party, the Awami League, were once again quick to dismiss the Islamic State claim on Saturday.
“There is no existence of Islamic State in Bangladesh,” said Qamrul Islam, Bangladeshi’s food minister, during a visit to the site of the attack. He said he believed opposition parties were behind the bombings, saying that “those who failed to make any movement against the government, they now have a new formula.”
He dismissed the possibility that sectarian tension could rise.
“In Pakistan, in Afghanistan, in other countries, but in Bangladesh, we do not have this clash,” he said. “In Bangladesh, there is no clash.”
The attack on Saturday occurred early in the morning, when 40,000 people had gathered at the starting point of the first procession, organizers said.
Sunni and Shiite Muslims are indistinguishable in the crowd, said Mir Zulfikar Ali, president of the Hossaini Welfare Association, which helped coordinate the event.
“This is the old part of Dhaka,” said. “The Sunnis were born, the Shia were born, they grew up over decades and they developed brotherly relations.”
Security camera footage of the blasts show a densely packed crowd surge away from the first explosion, only to encounter a second in the direction they were running.
“People tried to go anywhere to save their lives, they were just running, it was complete panic,” Mr. Ali said.“People tried to go anywhere to save their lives, they were just running, it was complete panic,” Mr. Ali said.
In the hours that followed, Mr. Ali was heartened to receive dozens of condolence calls from Sunni neighbors, he said.
“Somebody from outside is trying to destroy this brotherly relation,” he said. “I do not know who it is.”