Bangladesh bomb blast victim dies
Dozens of small bomb blasts rattled the capital Dhaka and towns across Bangladesh today as a series of carefully timed attacks killed one person and injured at least 42 others.
Seven people were later arrested in connection with some of the bombings.
Rabiul Alam, 40, a rickshaw puller, was seriously injured when a bomb went off next to him as he waited for a fare outside a college in north-western Chapainawabganj town. He died on the way to a hospital, said a doctor at Rajshahi Medical College Hospital.
Police said the bombs, which went off almost simultaneously, were home-made and apparently designed to cause only limited damage. But the blasts caused panic and massive traffic jams in a number of cities, as people fled for safety and rushed to schools to take their children home.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but leaflets from a banned Islamic group, the Jumatul Mujahedin, were found at the scene of a number of explosions, police said. The group wants to establish an Islamic state in Bangladesh, an overwhelmingly Muslim nation governed by secular laws.
“It’s an organised attack,” said Lufuzzaman Babar, a Home Ministry official.
Police made a number of quick arrests.
Three men were arrested in the southern district of Cox’s Bazaar for carrying or hurling bombs, said police officer Rezaul Karim. In the city of Chittagong, police arrested two men carrying crude home-made bombs and firecrackers, said police officer Osman Gani said.
Two other suspects were picked up elsewhere in Chittagong, Gani said.
