|
Bangladesh holds 8 after bombing
(AP)
Updated: 2005-12-10 10:46
Police detained eight suspects Friday after a suicide bomber blew himself up
on a crowded Bangladesh street, killing himself and seven others in an attack
blamed on extremists seeking an Islamic state.
The suspects were held for questioning in this northern town, site of
Thursday's bombing, police officials said on condition of anonymity because they
are not authorized to speak to the media.
Among the wounded was another bomber who police said failed to detonate his
explosives. The suspected second bomber was hospitalized under police guard
Friday, the police said.
A policeman detains two suspected militants
during Friday prayers at the National Mosque Baitul Mukarram in Dhaka,
Bangladesh, Friday, Dec. 9, 2005.[AP] | About 1,000 mourners rallied in Netrokona on Friday, waving black flags in
mourning and carrying banners that read, "Arrest the bombers, punish the
bombers."
Thousands of Muslims poured into Dhaka's streets after Friday's weekly
prayers to condemn the bombing.
"Islam does not allow such a heinous crime against humanity," Moulana Obaidul
Huq, imam of the country's main mosque in Dhaka, told them. "We must fight
against such an anti-Islamic campaign to protect our religion of peace."
Also Friday, police discovered and defused a bomb outside a college in
Sirajganj, 65 miles northwest of Dhaka, the United News of Bangladesh news
agency reported.
Thursday's blast occurred as hundreds of people had gathered on a narrow
street after police safely detonated another bomb found in a building.
The explosion spewed shrapnel, killing the bomber and six others and injuring
dozens, including another bomber who police said failed to detonate his
explosives.
A seventh victim, a 22-year-old woman who was being treated at a government
hospital, died of her injuries Friday, said a nurse with the Mymensingh Medical
College Hospital, speaking on condition of anonymity because she is not
authorized to speak to reporters.
Police blamed the attack on Jumatul Mujahideen Bangladesh, a banned Islamic
group believed to be behind a wave of blasts that have killed 21 people in the
past two weeks.
A police officer at the scene, Ali Hossain Faquir, said a handwritten leaflet
warning police to follow Islamic law and stop protecting "manmade" laws was
found near the site, about 80 miles north of the capital, Dhaka.
The previous attacks largely targeted government offices and courts, and Home
Ministry spokesman Khandaker Monirul Alam told reporters in Dhaka that the
attackers have "adopted a new tactic, and targeted innocent
people."
|
