Three injured in powerful blast claimed by Islamic State in Bangladesh

Representational image

Dhaka: A police officer and two others were severely injured in a blast in Bangladesh's capital claimed by the Islamic State. The explosives that lead to the blast in a police pick-up van in Dhaka's Malibagh on Sunday night might have been planted, Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Commissioner Asaduzzaman Mia said on Monday.

"We think it (the explosive) was kept in the car and not hurled at the police," he stated while talking to reporters after visiting the injured victims at Dhaka Medical College Hospital. Based on the primary investigation, we think it was an improvised bomb, but it was more powerful than the usual ones used," he said. Two people along with an assistant sub-inspector were injured in the explosion. The police have yet to identify the culprits.

Meanwhile, US-based SITE Intelligence Group stated that IS has claimed responsibility for the blast targeting the police van in Dhaka. Terming the incident as an act to spread fear, the DMP chief said: "If they (the attackers) wanted, they could have killed our police officials. Attacking a police vehicle or check-post is a move to break down the police's morale and its initiative to oust terrorism from Bangladesh." The government has consistently ruled out the presence of the dreaded terror group in the Muslim-majority nation though experts have been maintaining that series of brutal attacks on minorities and secular activists had the hallmarks of ISIS group.

Bangladesh launched a crackdown on Islamist militants following the July 2016 terror attack in which terrorists stormed a Dhaka cafe and killed 22 people, including 18 foreigners, by firing indiscriminately. The ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack. In a nationwide raid since then, the security forces have killed around 100 terrorists and detained several others.

Top News stories of the day

• Mumbai: Derailment at Kurla disrupts Central Railway train services
• Mumbai crime: Popular salon stylist groped me, says actress
• Mumbai: Behind PG medico's suicide, constant barbs in WhatsApp groups
• Blood banks that don't update stock status will lose licence
• Mumbai: 50-year-old critically injured in Jogeshwari gas explosion dies
• Narendra Modi visits mother Heeraben in Gandhinagar, seeks blessings
• Mumbai crime: FIR registered in Anurag Kashyap's tweet plaint
• Mumbai: Vikhroli Metro station to tower over EEH, JVLR
• Narendra Dabholkar murder: 'Defence lawyer's clerk arrested from Thane'
• Super volatile all this while
• Mumbai: Civic body to find out if parking under open spaces is possible
• Mumbai crime: Two fake cops trying to loot senior citizen arrested
• Mumbai: Western Railway's third AC local will roll out in December
• Daawat to dine
• A Himalayan feast

Catch up on all the latest Crime, National, International and Hatke news here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates

Edited by mid-day online desk with inputs from Agencies