DHAKA, 22 May 2004 — A bomb exploded at a mosque in northeastern Bangladesh yesterday, killing two people and wounding more than 60 including the new British ambassador.
British High Commissioner Anwar Choudhury was injured below the knee in the powerful blast at the gate of the Hazrat Shahjalal Mosque after Friday prayers in the eastern district town of Sylhet.
The explosion occurred barely 10 meters from Choudhury as he walked out of the mosque.
His family is originally from the Sylhet region and his visit to the mosque was widely publicized. Police said they believed the bomb was carried in by someone attending the prayers. But a mosque official said it could have been thrown into the compound from outside.
Choudhury was first admitted to Sylhet Osmany Hospital and later flown to Dhaka. His injury was “not critical,” the Bangladesh Foreign Ministry said.
The deputy commissioner of Sylhet was also among the injured.
One of the dead was identified as Rubel, 26, a student at Shahjalal University of Science and Technology.
No one claimed responsibility for the blast, which left behind a scene of devastation with torn slippers, shoes, caps and bloodstained shirts littering the exit of the mosque. “This is a hell of a scene with dozens of injured lying in the emergency ward and on the corridors,” a witness said.
Prime Minister Khaleda Zia urged officials to immediately find and punish those involved, and the Foreign Ministry said in a statement the government had expressed the deepest shock at “the mindless act of violence”.
In a statement, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said: “I am deeply shocked by news of this bomb and I extend my sympathies to all the victims and their families.”
