This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen
on .
It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
Bangladesh militants exchange fire with police at Eid prayers
Bangladeshi militants launch fatal attack on Eid gathering
(about 13 hours later)
Terrorists in Bangladesh hurled homemade bombs and fought a gun battle with police guarding a large Eid prayer gathering on Thursday morning. Two officers, a woman and one suspected militant were killed, while at least 12 others were injured, officials said.
A band of suspected Islamic extremists, armed with guns, homemade bombs and machetes, have attacked police guarding Bangladesh’s largest religious gatherings, killing two police officers and a woman.
At least one of the bombs exploded during the prayer attended by hundreds of thousands of people at the sprawling Sholakia grounds in the district of Kishoreganj, about 60 miles (90km) north of the capital, Dhaka. The grounds hold the largest open-air gatherings for the Muslim holiday of Eid-al-Fitr, marking the end of the fasting month of Ramadan.
Thousands of worshippers were caught up in Thursday’s incident in Sholakia, where nearly 200,000 people had gathered to offer prayers marking Eid al-Fitr – the holiday marking the end of the Ramadan fasting month.
After the blast, police fired on the attackers and killed one of them, Asst Supt Tofazzal Hossain said. The country’s information minister said the target of the attack was the police convoy patrolling the religious gathering.
The attack, in which one assailant was killed, came just six days after a militant assault claimed by Islamic State killed 20 civilians at an upmarket restaurant in Dhaka, shocking a nation increasingly worried about sections of its radicalised youth turning to violence.
Up to nine police constables were injured in the attack, minister Hasanul Haq Inu told Indian broadcaster CNN-News 18.
The sprawling open-air prayer grounds at Sholakia are 55 miles (90km) from the capital and famous for hosting the massive Eid prayer event.
Police cordoned off the area and searched the devotees as well as nearby houses for suspects in hiding, said local resident Shafiqul Islam, who was among those praying.
The violence began at 8.45am when a group of up to seven men attacked the outer police cordon an hour before the prayers were due to begin, according to local media reports.
The violence comes just days after a deadly hostage crisis in which 28 people were killed, including 20 hostages, two police and six of the attackers. Most of the hostages killed during the Friday night attack on a Dhaka restaurant were foreigners from Italy, Japan and India, raising international concerns about escalating extremist violence in Bangladesh.
Syed Abu Sayem, additional deputy commissioner of police, said 10 policemen were injured in the five-hour-long gunfight and subsequent chase through surrounding streets.
The ongoing spate of attacks, which began in 2013, has generally targeted atheists, religious minorities and others considered by militants to be “enemies of Islam”.
“We have captured two suspects, one of whom has been injured and admitted at the Mymensingh medical college hospital,” said Sayem.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Thursday’s attack, but the government said it was carried out by domestic militants fighting to destabilise the secular government of Sheikh Hasina, and establish Islamic rule in the Muslim-majority nation.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility by any known group, but the information minister said the attack was carried out by domestic militants attempting to topple the government and establish strict Islamic law in the country.
“It is a totally political move. They are out to destabilise the government. It is a political attack to oust and topple the secular government of Sheikh Hasina,” Inu said.
Maulana Farid Uddin Masuod, the cleric who has led Eid prayer at Sholakia for the last 10 years, fears that he was a target of the attackers.
Though Islamic State has claimed many past attacks, including the hostage-taking, Hasina’s government has dismissed those claims as opportunistic and says none of the attacks have been orchestrated from abroad.
“I heard from law enforcement that one of the suspects told the police I was their target,” he said.
Instead, Hasina’s government has accused her political opponents of backing the militant agenda in Bangladesh, an allegation the opposition parties vehemently deny.
Masuod is a longstanding critic of terrorism and Islamic extremism. He led a group of 100,000 Islamic clerics in Bangladesh who issued a fatwa against militancy last June.
On Wednesday, Isis released a video warning of more attacks in Bangladesh, according to the Site Intelligence Group, which monitors jihadi activity online.
Bangladesh is still reeling from the 13-hour siege of the Holey Artisan Bakery in Dhaka on 1 July in which scores of foreign diners were tortured and killed.
Many Bangladeshis have said they were horrified by the attacks, but determined to stand against them.
Three Bangladeshis subsequently appeared on an Isis video threatening to continue the attacks, with one man saying: “What you witnessed in Bangladesh yesterday was just a glimpse. This will repeat, repeat and repeat until you lose and we win and shariah is established throughout the world.”
“The rise of such a minuscule militancy can be rooted out very soon,” said Dhaka resident Mohammad Nizam Uddin Jitu.
“The people of this country are united,” he said. “The people of this country are peace-loving. The people of this country never support militancy.”
