Sun, Oct 25, 2015 page1

• IS claims deadly attack in Bangladesh

  • AFP, DHAKA
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  The Islamic State (IS) group yesterday claimed responsibility for the bombing of the main Shiite shrine in the Bangladeshi capital that killed one person and wounded nearly 80, as thousands gathered for the annual Ashura procession.

  The rare attack on Bangladesh’s tiny Shiite Muslim community comes just weeks after an Italian aid worker and a Japanese farmer were shot dead in attacks also claimed by the extremist group — although authorities reject the claims.

  Officers said a 14-year-old boy died on the spot after three small bombs were thrown at the complex of the Hossaini Dalan, the main Shiite site in the old Mughal quarter of Dhaka, at about 2am yesterday.

  “There were some 20,000 people in and outside the building at that time. They were preparing to hold the annual Muharram mourning procession when the three [bombs] were exploded,” Dhaka Police Deputy Commissioner Mofiz Uddin Ahmed said.

  The IS group later claimed the killing on Twitter, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, a US monitoring organization, but police said they had found no evidence to show the militants were behind the blasts.

  “So far, we have not found any link to any militant group in the attack,” Dhaka police spokesman Muntashirul Islam said.

  The attacks come as Shiites around the world mark the holy month of Muharram. Pakistan’s Shiites have also suffered sectarian violence this week after two suicide blasts killed at least 27 people.

  In Dhaka, television showed live footage of the chaos in the aftermath of the blasts with fleeing people holding flags and ambulances taking the injured to hospital.

  Police said about 80 people were injured in the attack on the 17th-century religious site, at least one critically.

  The Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), the nation’s elite security force, said it believed the bombs used were improvised explosive devices (IEDs).

  “We’ve recovered similar IEDs from the Islamist militants in the past,” RAB deputy spokesman Major Maqsudul Alam said.

  Authorities have yet to make any arrests in connection with the blasts, but three people have been taken in for questioning, police inspector Mohammad Murad said.

  Bangladeshi Home Affairs Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal told local media that authorities had video footage of the blasts and he hoped they could quickly track down the attackers.

  Ashura marks the climax of the holy month of Muharram, when Shiites hold processions and gatherings to mourn the martyrdom of the Prophet Mohammed’s grandson Imam Hussain at the Battle of Karbalah in Iraq in 680.

  Witnesses told the mass circulation daily Prothom Alo that many mourners fell to the ground as loud explosions went off at the main gate of the Hossaini Dalan, the most important prayer and congregation site for Bangladesh’s Shiites.

  Roni, who uses one name, said mourners dressed in black were holding prayers just before the procession when he heard eight to 10 explosions and saw a fire.

  Security was stepped up at Shiite mosques across the country immediately after the attack and mourners in Dhaka’s Mohammadpur neighborhood banned women and children from the procession.

  Defying the attack, about 20,000 Shiites continued the procession in Dhaka, police and a press photographer said, cutting their bodies with knives and iron chains in a religious ritual.
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