Dhaka: In another disturbing incident targeting the Hindu community in Bangladesh, local police defused a powerful Improvised Explosive Device (IED) near a metro rail station in Dhaka’s Motijheel that had been planted along the route of a Rath Yatra procession, local media reported on Saturday.
According to police, the explosive was strategically placed to target the procession, but its early identification helped avert a major attack.
The incident occurred late Friday night, with Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Assistant Commissioner (Motijheel Zone) Hussain Muhammad Farabi stating that a “cocktail” was found inside an abandoned umbrella beneath Motijheel metro station, leading Bangladeshi media outlet bdnews24 reported.
Motijheel Police Sub-Inspector Mukta registered a case against unknown individuals under the country’s Explosive Substances Act.
The case states that the explosive was planted as part of “a premeditated attempt to endanger public safety and create panic by detonating an explosive”.
Speaking to bdnews24, a bomb disposal official said that the IED contained approximately 1.5kg of sulphur, along with barbed wire and sharp pieces of metal.
“It was a pipe bomb. If someone had pressed the umbrella’s button to open it, the circuit would have triggered an explosion. The metal fragments would then have acted as shrapnel, causing serious injuries to people nearby,” he said.
During the operation to neutralise the device, a passerby was injured by shrapnel. The victim, identified as 33-year-old Miraj Ahmed, was admitted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital with an injury near his left eye.
“I heard a loud explosion. A piece of shrapnel hit me below my left eye,” Bangladesh’s leading newspaper ‘The Daily Star’ quoted Ahmed as saying.
The incident comes amid growing concerns over attacks on minorities in Bangladesh, with such incidents continuing during the tenure of the Muhammad Yunus-led interim government and under the current Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) administration.
Last week, several leaders of the Hindu community in Bangladesh had called for an immediate release of Haridas Chandra Tarani Das, the man who proposed the construction of an 81-foot-tall statue of Lord Ram within the premises of the Sri Sri Radha Govinda and Kali Temple in Palashbari upazila of Gaibandha district.
Das was reportedly taken into custody from the Palashbari temple area on July 12 in connection with an alleged money laundering case lodged at Uttara West Police Station in Dhaka.
The demands for his release were raised during a protest rally organised by the Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council, a human rights organisation working against religious discrimination outside the Jatiya Press Club in Dhaka.
Calling for greater protection of minority rights, the protestors urged the government of Bangladesh to safeguard religious freedom, stop “attacks” on minority communities, and prevent “interference” in the construction of places of worship, ‘The Daily Star’ had reported.
(IANS)
