30 November 2005
Twin Bangla suicide blasts kill 9
- By Nadeem Qadir
Dhaka, Nov. 29: At least nine people including two policemen and an equal number of lawyers were killed and over 50 others injured on Tuesday in two separate bomb blasts in Bangladesh, described by the police as the first ever suicide attacks in the country by suspected Islamic militants.
"This is the first suicide attack in Bangladesh," inspector general of police Abdul Qaiyum said after the blasts in south-eastern port city of Chittagong and nearby Gazipur.
No one claimed responsibility but the needle of suspicion immediately pointed to the militant group Jamayatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB). "These were powerful homemade bombs. It seems Jamayatul Mujahideen have stepped up their attacks after we arrested many of their members," Mr Qaiyum said. "In Gazipur, the JMB members entered in the guise of lawyers wearing the gown," the police chief told BD News. The attacks came two days after purported members of the Al Qaeda terror network sent fax messages threatening to blow up missions of US, UK and Western countries.
The police sources said three people, two of them policemen and a possible attacker, were killed in Chittagong while six were killed in Gazipur.
But the toll may go up as the government confirmed only five deaths while private BD News agency put the toll at 13. The private NTV also earlier reported that at least 10 people were killed and 40 others injured in Gazipur.
A staffer at Dhaka Medical College Hospital also said the death toll was likely to go up as many were "critically" injured. "Some of them have lost limbs or were severely burned," he said on condition of anonymity.
Witnesses said the bombs went off between 9 am and 9.45 am near courts in Gazipur and Chittagong.
A man dressed as a litigator with bombs strapped around his body entered the lawyers library room of Gazipur court and set off the devices, witnesses said, adding that among the dead were two lawyers and the attacker, whose body was found wrapped in wire.
The injured, many of them with critical wounds, were rushed to local hospitals and also ferried to Dhaka, local journalists said. In the other incident in Chittagong, the suicide attacker set off the device as the police checked those arriving at the local court, killing three people including two policmen, witnesses said. The third was believed to be the suspected Islamic militant.
Protesting the killings, lawyers stayed away from all courts and staged demonstrations, even as the Supreme Court bar association called for a one-day nationwide protest strike on Thursday.
One leaflet found near the attack site warned that "those who protect the lawyers who do not practice Allah's laws will continue to face attacks." The JMB, seeking to establish Islamic rule in Bangladesh, had carried out previous attacks on courts and killed two judges in a bomb attack this month. (PTI)