A group of men, suspected to be Islamist militants bombed Bangladesh on Thursday as hundreds of thousands of people gathered at the country’s largest Muslim prayer ground.
The attack follows Friday’s gruesome slaughter of more than 20 people at an upscale restaurant in Dhaka’s Gulshan district, terror which the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) later claimed responsibility for. Days later, the terrorist group promised there would be more such attacks in Bangladesh.
According to an account in The New York Times, people were gathered at Sholakia Eidgah, a prayer ground in Dhaka’s Kishoreganj district, for Eid-al-Fitr prayers, marking the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Roughly half an hour before prayers were to slated to start, a group of men reportedly approached policemen at a checkpoint and set off a bomb. Some of the men in the group were seen with guns and bladed weapons.
At least two police officers and one civilian were killed and six other officers were seriously injured, though they are expected to survive. More citizens were wounded, but additional details aren’t yet available about whom and how many.
One of the attackers was killed and two others arrested.
Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina issued a statement denouncing the attacks and the attackers saying, “What kind of Islamic virtues do they hold as they go to kill people instead of offering their prayers at prayers time, carry out a suicidal bomb attack,” the Times reported.
The Islamic State has so far not made any claim on the incident.
After Friday’s violent deaths, senior vice-president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturer and Exporters Association (BGMEA) Faruque Hassan said the attack would be very damaging for the country’s garment industry, which has already been facing an uphill battle to prove its safety in recent years. But with violence potentially ongoing, there’s no telling the extent of damage that may be done to the sector.