Crude bombs blasted in Bangladesh mosque, six injured

By

Sheuli Akter

Six people have been injured as two crude bombs exploded at a mosque in Bangladesh’s southeastern seaport city Chittagong, some 242 km from the capital Dhaka.

The bombs exploded after Friday’s weekly Juma prayers at the mosque inside the BNS Issa Khan naval base of the Bangladeshi Navy in Chittagong.

“Five to six people who were slightly wounded in the explosions have been given first aid and released,” said Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) Directorate of Bangladesh Army in a media statement.

One person with several explosive devices that did not go off has been arrested,  said the military’s press wing.

No local or foreign extremist group claimed responsibility for Friday’s blasts which also took place weeks after 10 people were hurt as three crude bombs blasted in a Hindu temple in northwestern Dinajpur district of Bangladesh.

Friday’s blast incident also followed bombings on Bangladeshi Shias’ Ashura mourning procession gatherings in Dhaka about a month earlier, leaving two people dead and more than 100 injured.

ISIS had reportedly claimed responsibility for the previous bombings, but the Bangladesh Police said those were the handiwork of local banned extremist group, JMB, campaigning for the establishment of Islamic rule in Bangladesh.

The Muslim-majority Bangladesh suffered a rising tide of violence in recent months when five secular writers including a US citizen of Bangladesh origin were hacked to death and two foreigners were killed.

Sheuli Akter

Sheuli Akter, from Bangladesh, is a Special Correspondent and Editor of NsNewsWire, (Bangladesh’s First Press Newswire).  Previously she had worked for Bangladesh’ top news agency, United News of Bangladesh (UNB) and top newspaper (now defunct) The Bangladesh Observer. She also gained an honourable mention in the first ever World Media Summit WMS Awards for ‘Exemplary News Professionals in Developing Countries’, receiving the award in Beijing in January 2015.