1 killed, 10 injured in suicide bombing at Rajshahi Ahmadiyaa mosque

A suicide bomber blew himself up in an attack on a mosque in Rajshahi’s Bagmara Upazila during the Juma prayers, leaving 10 people injured, police say.

Bagmara Police Station OC Motiar Rahman told bdnews24.com the bombing at the mosque run by minority Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat at the Upazila’s Mochhmoil Bakparha took place on Friday afternoon.

He said the attacker died in the incident but could not confirm his identity.

According to locals, the youth exploded the bomb that he had kept concealed under the garments during the prayers at around 1:30pm.

The attack took place amid Eid-e-Miladunnabi programmes across Bangladesh.

Rahman said at least 10 people were injured in the explosion.

According to police, three of the injured, identified as Moyez Uddin, Saeb Ali and 12-year old boy ‘Nayan’, had been rushed to Rajshahi Medical College Hospital.

Law enforcers cordoned off the mosque, where members of Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat usually pray, following the explosion.

No militant group has claimed responsibility for the attack so far.

Statements had been issued following several previous militant attacks, claiming that Middle East-based group Islamic State was responsible for them.

A Japanese national, Kunio Hoshi, was murdered on Oct 3 in Rangpur, a procession of the Shia community came under attack on Oct 24 in Dhaka and an attempt was made on Italian cleric Piero Parolari on Nov 18 in Dinajpur.

A Muezzin was killed and three others were injured in an attack on Shia mosque on Nov 26 in Bogra and two temples were attacked in December in Dinajpur.

Police, however, claim that members of outlawed militant outfit Jama’at-ul-Mujahideen (JMB) were involved in most of the attacks.

Members of Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat had come under several militant attacks before.

Hifazat-e Islam, a Qawmi madrasa-based Islamic organisation headquartered in Chittagong, had demanded in 2013 that the government declare Ahmadiyya Muslims ‘non-Muslims’.

Source: bdnews24