Imam taken to hospital after attack in mosque

DHAKA // Three men with cleavers stormed a mosque in Bangladesh and attacked an imam from the minority Ahmadi Muslim community, critically injuring him, police said yesterday. The men attacked the mosque in the village of Khanpur in northern Bangladesh on Monday, shortly after the evening call for prayer, and attacked Mustafizur Rahman, said district police chief Syed Nurul Islam.

“He was hacked at least four times including in the neck, back and in his stomach,” the officer said.

The 32-year-old is in hospital in Dhaka where he is in a critical condition.

Villagers caught and beat one of the men, but police said it was not clear whether those responsible belonged to the extremist groups behind a wave of attacks on religious minorities and foreigners in Bangladesh.

Last year, a suicide bombing by an extremist at an Ahmadi mosque in the north-west town of Bagmara wounded three people.

ISIL claimed responsibility for the attack, but the authorities blamed the home-grown militant group Jamayetul Mujahideen Bangladesh, which is accused of killing scores of religious minorities, including Hindus, Christians, Sufis and Shiites.

Police have stepped up security in Khanpur, which is home to about a dozen Ahmadi families.

A spokesman for Khanpur’s Ahmadi community, Ahmad Choudhury, said they had faced protests from Sunni villagers in recent months, and when they set up the mosque.