Bangladesh blast, gunbattle kill four during Eid prayers

Extremists in Bangladesh hurled homemade bombs and engaged in a gunbattle with police guarding a large Eid prayer on Thursday morning. Two officers, a woman and one suspected militant were killed, while at least 12 other people were injured, officials said.

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 90 kilometers north of Dhaka. The grounds hold the country’s largest open-air gatherings for Eid-al-Fitr.

After the blast killed two officers, police fired on the attackers and killed one of them, Assistant Superintendent Tofazzal Hossain said. A female bystander was also killed in the crossfire. More than a dozen other people were injured with gunshot or bomb shrapnel wounds, including two in critical condition, he said.

Police cordoned off the area and searched the devotees as well as nearby houses for suspects in hiding, said resident Shafiqul Islam, who was among those offering Eid prayers.

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.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Thursday’s attack, but the government insisted it was carried out by domestic militants fighting to destabilize Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government.

The country’s information minister said the target of the attack was the police convoy patrolling the religious gathering.

“It is a totally political move. They are out to destabilize the government. It is a political attack to oust and topple the secular government of Sheikh Hasina,” Minister Hasanul Haq Inu told Indian broadcaster CNN-News 18.

Hasina government accuses her political opponents of backing the militant agenda in Bangladesh, an allegation the opposition parties vehemently deny. Many Bangladeshis have said they were horrified by the attacks, but determined to stand against them.

“The rise of such a minuscule militancy can be rooted out very soon,” said Dhaka resident Mohammad Nizam Uddin Jitu after participating in Eid prayers on Thursday at the Baitul Mukarram National Mosque in the capital.

“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.”