Jihadist bombs cause havoc

– Two explosions ripped through a crowd on Saturday, killing six people and injuring some 50 in Bangladesh’s northeastern city of Sylhet as army commandos stormed an Islamist extremist hideout, police said.

The “powerful” blasts went off about 400m from the hideout, targeting police and hundreds of onlookers who were watching the commandos conduct an anti-militant operation at a five-storey apartment building, police said.

Deputy commissioner of Sylhet police Basudeb Banik said “six people, including two police officers, were killed” in the attack, which was claimed by the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group through its propaganda agency Amaq.

He said about 50 people were injured, including about a dozen police and security officers.

Several people were reported to be in critical condition, including the head of intelligence of the elite Rapid Action Battalion, tasked with combating Islamist extremism in the country, he said.

Police primarily suspect the blasts were the work of a new faction of the homegrown extremist group Jamayetul Mujahideen Bangladesh, which has been blamed for a wave of attacks in recent years.

Police could not confirm if it was a suicide attack but believe one of the attackers could be among the dead. – AFP

Dhaka