DHAKA, 9 December 2005 — Suicide bombers struck once again in Bangladesh killing at least seven people and injuring more than 50 others yesterday, sources said.
The attack took place during the morning rush hour on a crowded street in Netrokona town, 360 km north of the capital Dhaka, police said.
Two bombs went off within the space of a few minutes in Netrokona. Police said the wounded included three policemen. Many of the victims were people on their way to work at offices, colleges and markets, witnesses said.
No one claimed responsibility for the blasts, but police blamed suicide bombers fighting for the introduction of Shariah law in the country.
Police said they found a suicide bomber among the wounded, with an unexploded bomb strapped to his body. He was taken to hospital unconscious, police added.
Another suicide bomber was believed to be among the dead.
“Two of the dead, including a woman, have been identified, but identities of the rest are yet to be ascertained,” one police officer said.
“We have reasons to believe that one among the dead was a suicide bomber, who arrived on the spot on a bicycle just moments before the blast,” he added.
The bombs exploded near the local office of a cultural organization, Udichi, which police believe was the target. At least one member of the group was among the dead, said a police officer.
“Definitely our activists are targets, because we try to reform the society for greater emancipation of the people,” Mahmud Selim, general secretary of the national committee of Udichi, a left-leaning cultural organization, said.
Ten people were killed and over 50 were injured when a bomb exploded at an open-air concert of Udichi in western Jessore town in March 1999.
Many Islamic groups dislike Udichi, which organizes open-air shows of drama, music and poetry recitals. It pursues a strong secular philosophy.
Yesterday’s deaths took the number of people killed by suspected suicide bombers to 27 in three weeks, including judges, lawyers and policemen. At least 150 people have been injured in the deadly attacks.
A spokesman of the US Embassy in Dhaka said: “We condemn the bombings and hope the Bangladesh government will be able to find and punish those responsible.”
“We are willing to provide support to the Bangladesh law enforcing agencies as (may be) requested,” he said in a telephone interview.
Bangladesh has been hit by a wave of bomb attacks since August which has been blamed on militants of banned groups, including the Jamatul Mujahedeen, which seeks to turn mainly Muslim Bangladesh into a Shariah-based Islamic state.
Prime Minister Khaleda Zia is currently in Saudi Arabia attending a summit of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC).
Dhaka officials said she would be discussing with Muslim leaders the emergence of Islamist militancy in her country and ways to tackle it.
Bangladesh is the world’s third most populous Muslim country after Indonesia and Pakistan.
