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| Afghanistan/South Asia |
| Nine Arrested Over Bombing in Bangla |
| 2004-05-23 |
| Police on Saturday said they have detained nine men in connection with the bombing of a Muslim shrine that killed three people and wounded about 100 — including the top British diplomat in Bangladesh. British High Commissioner Anwar Choudhury was injured on his right leg in the blast during noon prayers Friday at Hazrat Shahjalal shrine in Sylhet city. Four suspects were detained late Friday, a police officer said on condition of anonymity. Five others were picked up Saturday for questioning, he said. Five of those detained are members of the student wing of the country's main opposition party, the Awami League, Sylhet City Mayor Badruddin Ahmed Kamran told a news conference Saturday. The identity of the other four was not known. Kamran, who is a local Awami League leader, denied the students were involved in the attack. "The government is using the violence to crack down on the opposition," he told The Associated Press. Choudhury was flown by helicopter to a military hospital in Dhaka after emergency treatment at Osmani Medical College Hospital in Sylhet. His injury was not serious, doctors said. Choudhury, a 44-year-old Bangladeshi-born Briton, was visiting the shrine after assuming his post last week. No one claimed responsibility for the blast in Sylhet, 120 miles northeast of Dhaka. A police officer wounded in the blast died overnight, raising the death toll to three, doctors said. Prime Minister Khaleda Zia expressed "deep shock" at the blast and conveyed "sympathy to the British envoy and other injured people," her office said. The Awami League has accused police of security lapses and planned to hold protests in Sylhet city on Saturday. In London, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said he was "shocked" by the attack. |
| Posted by:Fred |