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| Afghanistan/South Asia |
| Bombs explode in Bangladesh courts, at least two killed |
| 2005-10-03 |
| DHAKA - Simultaneous bomb explosions rocked three Bangladesh towns on Monday, killing at least two people and wounding 10, less than two months after hundreds of blasts went off across the country on a single day. Police said the bombs rocked courtrooms -- one in the town of Chandpur, 170 km (106 miles) southeast of the capital, Dhaka, another in nearby Laxmipur town and one or two more in the port city of Chittagong. Local reporters said suspects detained following the blasts admitted they were members of Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen, a banned Islamic militant group blamed for Augustâs attacks. Police superintendant B.M. Harunur Rashid said by telephone that one man died in the attack on the courthouse in Chandpur, three people --- including a lawyer -- were wounded, and two people suspected of carrying the bomb were detained. One man was killed and six were wounded in Laxmipur, and one man was hurt in Chittagong. Police said they had also recovered a live bomb outside a school in the northern town of Mymensingh, not far from the district magistrateâs court. Mondayâs attacks came a day after police filed criminal charges against 28 Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen activists in a court in northwestern Jaipurhat district. The attacks also followed Saturdayâs arrest of Mufti Abdul Hannan, accused of leading the Bangladesh chapter of the Islamist militant group Harkatul Jihad and described by police as among the âtop terroristsâ they had been seeking for years. âTodayâs bombing is the continuation of the previous blasts. They have targeted democratic institutions like courts to show they are still active,â said retired Brigadier-General Shahedul Anam Khan, a defence analyst. âHowever, the positive sign is that people have become aware ... and are helping law-enforcing agencies to capture them (the militants),â he said. |
| Posted by:Steve |