Breaking Headline

Daesh claims responsibility for attack in Bangladesh that killed six people and wounded dozens

Published March 26th, 2017 - 04:00 GMT
Bangladesh police inspect the crime scene as an attacker was killed in front of a police box at the entrance to Dhaka’s international airport on March 24, 2017. (AFP)
Bangladesh police inspect the crime scene as an attacker was killed in front of a police box at the entrance to Dhaka’s international airport on March 24, 2017. (AFP)

Daesh, the "Islamic State" militant group has claimed responsibility for bomb blasts near a suspected militant hideout in Bangladesh, according to a report, while police said on Sunday that the death toll from the explosion had risen to six.

Four civilians and two police officers were killed and nearly 50 others wounded in blasts that took place Saturday evening, officer Akhter Hossain told reporters.

Two civilians died at the scene while the others succumbed to their wounds at a hospital in north-eastern Bangladesh.  

The blasts occurred nearly 500 metres away from a residential building in Sylhet city that had been the subject of a raid by army commandos.

An investigation was launched, city police chief Golam Kibria said. Kibria had said Saturday that it was not yet clear who detonated the bombs, but that a motorbike and explosives were seized at the scene.

Meanwhile, the US-based monitoring group SITE Intelligence said that Islamic State militants claimed responsibility for the attack, citing Islamic State's semi-official Amaq News Agency.

Police had kept the residential building in the north-eastern city cordoned off since Friday, when they were informed that suspected militants belonging to a banned Islamist group were present there.

The commandos evacuated 78 people from the five-storey building before they began the raid.

Subscribe

Sign up to our newsletter for exclusive updates and enhanced content