Bangladesh bomb blasts kill 1, injure more than 100; Islamic State claims responsibility
Bangladeshi security personnel stand guard at the entrance of a shrine, the site of an explosion, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on Saturday.
A teenage boy was killed and more than 100 others injured when a series of bomb blasts disrupted a Shiite Muslim religious procession in the nation’s capital Saturday.
Hours later, a claim of responsibility was tweeted by Islamic State militants, according to the SITE Intelligence group, which monitors extremist activities.
The attack on Shiites — a minority in Sunni-dominated Bangladesh — came as thousands gathered early Saturday for a procession to mark the Ashura holiday at Huseni Dalan, a Shiite holy area in the old town area of Dhaka.
Many of the homemade explosives did not ignite until people had left the site. But Sazzad Hossain Sanju, a teenager, was killed, and more than 100 were injured, authorities said.
“At least three bombs were blasted in the gathering despite tight security,” Police Commissioner Asaduzzaman Miah said.
It was the first time that Bangladesh’s small Shiite community had been targeted, according to authorities, and came just weeks after an Italian aid worker and a Japanese agriculture specialist were shot dead in attacks also claimed by Islamic State.
In their message Saturday, the militants said that “soldiers of the Caliphate in Bangladesh” had detonated explosives during “polytheist rituals.”
At least 57 of those injured were admitted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital, and 33 others were taken to two other medical facilities.
Kader is a special correspondent.
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