Dhaka denies mosque attack IS link
Gunmen open fire on Shia evening prayers
NEW DELHI: An Islamic State (IS) affiliate in Bangladesh said yesterday it was behind an attack on a Shia mosque in the country’s north that killed one man and wounded three others.
A statement posted on the Twitter account of Islamic State Bangladesh said the mosque was hit by a barrage of shots fired form machine guns.
At least five assailants fired on worshippers during evening prayers on Thursday at the mosque in Haripur village in the Bogra district. A mosque official in his 70s who had been leading the prayers was killed.
Television footage showed the heavily guarded Shia mosque with broken windows and blood stains on the floor.
Police yesterday detained two suspects for questioning, said local police official Arifur Rahman.
He said the men were picked up from the area of the attack. Details of their identities were not clear immediately.
The statement from the IS offshoot said “the soldiers of the caliphate targeted a place of worship for the apostates” built with funds from Iran. It vowed more such attacks.
Thursday’s attack follows a wave of deadly assaults this year on foreigners, secular writers and the Shia community in the Sunni-majority nation of 160 million people.
The attacks have alarmed the international community and raised concerns that religious extremism is growing in the traditionally moderate South Asian nation.
The bombing was believed to be the first attack on Shia in Bangladesh, although banned Islamist militant groups have killed more than a dozen Sufi Muslims and attacked Hindus and Christians in the past two years.
Speaking after the latest attack, local Shia leader Mir Zulfiqar Ali said that there was a growing sense of fear among the community.
“We are now concerned because it was the second time an attack came on us. All we can do is to condemn such attacks and ask for extra security from the government at our mosques and shrines,” he said.
Police have pledged to step up security in the wake of the attack.
Security was beefed up at all important Shia installations including their mosques in Dhaka ahead of the Muslim’s Friday prayer, Dhaka police spokesman Muntashirul Islam said.
Bangladesh’s government has repeatedly denied the presence of the IS in the impoverished nation.
Police have arrested six members of the banned local group Jumatul Mujahedeen Bangladesh in connection with the Oct 24 bombing of an annual Shia rally in Dhaka, according to senior Detective Branch official Munirul Islam.
The bombs, lobbed into the crowd as people were gathering for an early morning procession through the capital, killed a teenage boy and wounded more than 100 people.
Authorities quickly dismissed an admission of responsibility by the IS in that attack too, saying it had no presence in the country, and that the culprits were likely from Jumatul Mujahedeen.
Security officials on Thursday killed the alleged mastermind of the Oct 24 attack, alBani, during a gunfight in a Dhaka suburb, Mr Islam said.
He described Bani as the commander of the group and said he and his accomplices opened fire on security forces as they were preparing to conduct a raid.