Two policemen, one terrorist among 4 killed in second jihadi attack in Bangladesh in seven days
Reports said besides two policemen, a woman was also killed in shootout between two sides after a group of terrorists attacked mobile police party with crude bombs.
Bangladesh Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu said one attacker was also shot dead and another was captured alive by security forces.
The incident took place only six days after the Dhaka cafe attack that left 22 people dead.
According to reports, bombs exploded near an Eid prayer gathering in Sholakia in northern Kishoreganj district where at least 200,000 people had gathered. While one police constable died on the spot, a second policeman later succumbed to his wounds on way to hospital in neighbouring Mymensingh.
The attack, carried out near a school, resulted in a gun battle in which a woman was also killed while she was witnessing the incident from the window of her house near the scene.
Tofazzal Hosain, who is the district's deputy police chief, has been quoted by the media as saying that several people had taken part in the attack and some had been armed with machetes -- a hallmark of recent Islamist killings in Bangladesh.
"They first threw a small bomb targeting police and then attacked them with machetes. Police retaliated by returning gunfire," he said.
The Islamic State, that claimed responsibility for Friday's terror attack on the Hole Artisan Cafe in Dhaka, on Wednesday issued a new video warning the Bangladesh government of more attacks in the country and across the world until Shariah law is established globally. It said last week’s gruesome attack on the cafe was just “a glimpse".
The video message believed to be issued from Raqqa, the stronghold of the terror group in Syria in Bangla language was first found in an IS-affiliate website and then released on YouTube.
However, there was no immediate claim of responsibility for Thursday's attack which came at a time when the country was trying to recover from the shock of the July 1 terror attack, the first of its kind in Bangladesh. A group of terrorists, all later identified as Bangladeshi youths, had butchered 22 hostages, including 20 foreigners, inside the cafe. Carrying out an operation, Bangladesh commandos shot dead six people, five of them identified as terrorists, and rescued 13 hostages.
Support Our Journalism
We cannot do without you.. your contribution supports unbiased journalism
IBNS is not driven by any ism- not wokeism, not racism, not skewed secularism, not hyper right-wing or left liberal ideals, nor by any hardline religious beliefs or hyper nationalism. We want to serve you good old objective news, as they are. We do not judge or preach. We let people decide for themselves. We only try to present factual and well-sourced news.