Bomb blasts hits Bangladesh

At least six people, including two police officials, were killed and scores wounded in two bomb blasts in Bangladesh on Saturday near a militant hideout that was raided by commandos, police said.

Acording to media reports, the explosions in the northeastern district of Sylhet came a day after a bomber blew himself up at a security checkpoint near the country’s main airport in an attack claimed by Daesh.

“At least six people including two police official were killed in two explosions, one near the hideout and another in front of the building,” said Sylhet police spokesman Zedan Al Musa.

More than 40 people were wounded, several critically, he added. About a dozen army and police personnel were among the injured.

Daesh claimed responsibility “for a bombing on Bangladeshi forces in Sylhet,” the SITE monitoring service said, citing the militant group’s news agency Amaq.

Army commandos stormed the hideout, which belonged to a domestic extremist group that has pledged allegiance to Daesh, and was blamed for a cafe attack in July last year in which 22 people were killed, most of them foreigners.

On Saturday, commandos rescued all 78 people trapped inside the five-storey building for more than a day in an operation that was still underway. The raid came after a string of attacks on security bases this month.

A forensic report confirmed that Friday’s attack was the third incident involving explosives in the capital Dhaka in a week.

SS