Two police officers, another woman and one attacker killed as militants throw homemade bombs during attack in Sholakia, north of Dhaka

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

A band of suspected Islamic extremists, armed with guns, homemade bombs and machetes, have attacked police guarding Bangladesh’s largest religious gatherings, killing two police officers and a woman.



Thousands of worshippers were caught up in Thursday’s incident in Sholakia, where nearly 200,000 people had gathered to offer prayers marking Eid al-Fitr – the holiday marking the end of the Ramadan fasting month.

The attack, in which one assailant was killed, came just six days after a militant assault claimed by Islamic State killed 20 civilians at an upmarket restaurant in Dhaka, shocking a nation increasingly worried about sections of its radicalised youth turning to violence.

The sprawling open-air prayer grounds at Sholakia are 55 miles (90km) from the capital and famous for hosting the massive Eid prayer event.

The violence began at 8.45am when a group of up to seven men attacked the outer police cordon an hour before the prayers were due to begin, according to local media reports.

Syed Abu Sayem, additional deputy commissioner of police, said 10 policemen were injured in the five-hour-long gunfight and subsequent chase through surrounding streets.



“We have captured two suspects, one of whom has been injured and admitted at the Mymensingh medical college hospital,” said Sayem.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility by any known group, but the information minister said the attack was carried out by domestic militants attempting to topple the government and establish strict Islamic law in the country.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Police operations during the attack in Sholakia. Photograph: Stringer/EPA

Maulana Farid Uddin Masuod, the cleric who has led Eid prayer at Sholakia for the last 10 years, fears that he was a target of the attackers.

“I heard from law enforcement that one of the suspects told the police I was their target,” he said.

Masuod is a longstanding critic of terrorism and Islamic extremism. He led a group of 100,000 Islamic clerics in Bangladesh who issued a fatwa against militancy last June.

Bangladesh is still reeling from the 13-hour siege of the Holey Artisan Bakery in Dhaka on 1 July in which scores of foreign diners were tortured and killed.

Three Bangladeshis subsequently appeared on an Isis video threatening to continue the attacks, with one man saying: “What you witnessed in Bangladesh yesterday was just a glimpse. This will repeat, repeat and repeat until you lose and we win and shariah is established throughout the world.”