<p> Suspected Islamists carried out a deadly attack in Bangladesh on Thursday, killing at least three people at a huge prayer rally marking Eid. <br /><br /></p>.<p>This comes days after Islamic State claimed a major attack in Dhaka and warned of more violence. <br /><br />Authorities said two policemen and a civilian were killed in explosions and gunfire near a prayer ground in the northern Kishoreganj district.<br /><br />One of the attackers was shot dead and four of his suspected accomplices were arrested after hand bombs were hurled at the police personnel manning a checkpoint just outside the main prayer ground. The prayer gathering in Kishoreganj is by far the biggest such congregation in Bangladesh.<br /><br />“Two policemen, an attacker and a woman who was shot during the (subsequent) gunfight were killed,” national police spokesman A K M Shahidur Rahman said. <br /><br />“Nine policemen were also injured. They are critical ,” he said. <br />A pistol and a machete were among the weapons recovered from the scene of the attack, close to where 2.5 lakh people had been taking part in a post-Ramzan gathering.<br /><br />NSG team to visit Dhaka<br /><br />A team of bomb experts from the National Security Guard (NSG) will help Bangladesh “analyse and study” the explosions at the Eid prayer gathering and the recent terror attack at a high-end restaurant in Dhaka, reports DHNS.<br /><br /><br />There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, which came less than a week after Islamists killed 20 hostages and two policemen in an overnight siege at a Western-style cafe in Dhaka. <br /><br />Bangladesh has been on heightened alert and many Eid services included pleas from religious leaders for an end to the violence which has gripped the country.The cleric who led the Kishoreganj prayer, Maolana Farid Uddin Masuod, has been an outspoken critic of a recent wave of attacks by Islamist extremists and he again strongly condemned Thursday’s killings. “The young men who think they will go to heaven (by carrying out such attacks) are wrong. They will go straight to hell,” he told AFP over phone.<br /><br />Bangladesh has been reeling from dozens of attacks mainly targeting secular activists or religious minorities in the last one year. Many of them have been claimed by the self-styled Islamic State group or an offshoot of the al-Qaeda network.<br /><br />Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government has consistently denied international jihadist networks have any presence in Bangladesh, but has been criticised for failing to tackle a rise in Islamist extremism.<br /><br />India’s supportIndia pledged “every possible support” to Bangladesh in its<br />fight against extremism, DHNS adds fromNewDelhi.<br /><br />“India stands with Bangladesh in its fight against terrorism, radicalism and fundamentalism,” President Pranab Mukherjee wrote to the neighbouring country’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.<br /><br /></p>
<p> Suspected Islamists carried out a deadly attack in Bangladesh on Thursday, killing at least three people at a huge prayer rally marking Eid. <br /><br /></p>.<p>This comes days after Islamic State claimed a major attack in Dhaka and warned of more violence. <br /><br />Authorities said two policemen and a civilian were killed in explosions and gunfire near a prayer ground in the northern Kishoreganj district.<br /><br />One of the attackers was shot dead and four of his suspected accomplices were arrested after hand bombs were hurled at the police personnel manning a checkpoint just outside the main prayer ground. The prayer gathering in Kishoreganj is by far the biggest such congregation in Bangladesh.<br /><br />“Two policemen, an attacker and a woman who was shot during the (subsequent) gunfight were killed,” national police spokesman A K M Shahidur Rahman said. <br /><br />“Nine policemen were also injured. They are critical ,” he said. <br />A pistol and a machete were among the weapons recovered from the scene of the attack, close to where 2.5 lakh people had been taking part in a post-Ramzan gathering.<br /><br />NSG team to visit Dhaka<br /><br />A team of bomb experts from the National Security Guard (NSG) will help Bangladesh “analyse and study” the explosions at the Eid prayer gathering and the recent terror attack at a high-end restaurant in Dhaka, reports DHNS.<br /><br /><br />There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, which came less than a week after Islamists killed 20 hostages and two policemen in an overnight siege at a Western-style cafe in Dhaka. <br /><br />Bangladesh has been on heightened alert and many Eid services included pleas from religious leaders for an end to the violence which has gripped the country.The cleric who led the Kishoreganj prayer, Maolana Farid Uddin Masuod, has been an outspoken critic of a recent wave of attacks by Islamist extremists and he again strongly condemned Thursday’s killings. “The young men who think they will go to heaven (by carrying out such attacks) are wrong. They will go straight to hell,” he told AFP over phone.<br /><br />Bangladesh has been reeling from dozens of attacks mainly targeting secular activists or religious minorities in the last one year. Many of them have been claimed by the self-styled Islamic State group or an offshoot of the al-Qaeda network.<br /><br />Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government has consistently denied international jihadist networks have any presence in Bangladesh, but has been criticised for failing to tackle a rise in Islamist extremism.<br /><br />India’s supportIndia pledged “every possible support” to Bangladesh in its<br />fight against extremism, DHNS adds fromNewDelhi.<br /><br />“India stands with Bangladesh in its fight against terrorism, radicalism and fundamentalism,” President Pranab Mukherjee wrote to the neighbouring country’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.<br /><br /></p>