DHAKA: The Daesh claimed responsibility for the bombing of a Shiite complex in the Bangladeshi capital Saturday that killed one person and wounded nearly 80.

The rare attack on Bangladesh’s tiny Shiite Muslim community comes just weeks after an Italian aid worker and a Japanese farmer were shot dead in attacks also claimed by Daesh — although authorities reject the claims.

Officers said a 14-year-old boy died on the spot after three small bombs were thrown at a complex in the old Mughal quarter of Dhaka, at about 2:00 a.m. Saturday (2000 GMT Friday).

“There were some 20,000 people in and outside the building at that time. They were preparing to hold the annual Muharram mourning procession when the three (bombs) were exploded,” deputy commissioner of Dhaka Police Mofiz Uddin Ahmed told AFP.

Daesh later claimed the killing on Twitter, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, a US monitoring organization, but police said they had found no evidence to show the militants were behind the blasts.

“So far we have not found any link to any militant group in the attack,” Dhaka police spokesman Muntashirul Islam told AFP.

The attacks come as Shiites around the world mark the holy month of Muharram. Pakistan’s Shiites have also suffered sectarian violence this week after two suicide blasts killed at least 27 people.

In Bangladesh, television showed live footage of the chaos in the aftermath of the blasts with fleeing people holding flags and ambulances taking the injured to hospital.

Police said around 80 people were injured in the attack on the 17th century religious site, at least one critically.

The Rapid Action Battalion, the country’s elite security force, said it believed the bombs used were improvised explosive devices (IEDs).

“We’ve recovered similar IEDs from militants in the past,” RAB deputy spokesman Major Maqsudul Alam told AFP.

Authorities have yet to make any arrests in connection with the blasts but three people have been taken in for questioning, police inspector Mohammad Murad told AFP.

Home Affairs minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal told local media that authorities had video footage of the blasts and he hoped they could quickly track down the attackers.

Witnesses told the mass-circulation daily Prothom Alo that many mourners fell to the ground as loud explosions went off at the main gate of the complex.