3 killed, 30 wounded in Bangladesh explosions

At least three people were killed and 30 wounded on Saturday in two explosions in Bangladesh’s Sylhet city where army commandos stormed an Islamist extremist hideout, police said.

Two “powerful” blasts went off some 400 yards from the hideout, targeting a huge crowd of people and police officials who were witnessing the commando operation, killing three.

The blasts occurred as commandos engaged in a day-long gun-fight with suspected Islamist extremists holed up in a five-storey building.

The raid came after a series of suicide attacks on security camps by Islamist extremists this month including one at a police checkpoint near the country’s main international airport on Friday night.

Two of the attacks including Friday’s blast in which the suicide attacker was killed were claimed by Islamic State. AFP