Bangladesh police on alert after blast claimed by Islamic State

Dhaka, May 28 (PTI): Bangladesh has put its police force on alert after the Islamic State claimed responsibility for a bomb blast that targeted security forces here.

A woman police officer and two others were injured when a powerful bomb went off near a police pick-up van in the capital’s Malibagh intersection on Sunday night.

Islamic State claimed responsibility, with its propaganda wing Amaq saying the IS militants targeted the police vehicle with an “explosive device”.

Bangladesh police spokesperson Sohel Rana, however, said that no connection between the IS and the attack has been ascertained yet.

“The bomb attack is currently being investigated,” he said in a statement adding, The matter of Islamic State’s claim of responsibility (for the blast) has come to sight. But no connection between IS and the attack has been ascertained yet, he said.

All units of Bangladesh Police have been directed to take cautionary measures following the bomb blast.

The government has consistently ruled out the presence of the dreaded terror group in the Muslim-majority nation though experts have been maintaining that series of brutal attacks on minorities and secular activists had the hallmarks of ISIS group.

Bangladesh launched a crackdown on Islamist militants following the July 2016 terror attack in which terrorists stormed a Dhaka cafe and killed 22 people, including 18 foreigners, by firing indiscriminately. The ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack.

In a nationwide raids since then, the security forces have killed around 100 terrorists and detained several others.