Staff Reporter :
Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Commissioner Asaduzzaman Mia has said that police were the target of the bomb blast in city’s Science Laboratory area on Saturday night.
Members of the law enforcing agencies collected evidence immediately after the bomb exploded. It initially appeared to be an Improvised Explosive Device (IED). The terrorists carried out the attack with the police as targets.
Asaduzzaman Mia said this to journalists at a press briefing at his office in city’s Minoto Road on Sunday morning.
The DMP Commissioner said that CCTV footages of the surrounding areas have been collected and they are trying to gather more evidence and witnesses.
He declined to make further comments as the incident was still under investigation.
Responding to queries on the matter, Asaduzzman Mia said that the attacks on Gulisthan Police Box three months ago, followed by the one on a police vehicle at Malibagh and then the discovery of bombs near police boxes at Paltan and Khamarbari in July all indicate the police are the targets.
He said that the terrorist network was rendered weak after the 2016 attack at Gulshan’s Holey Artisan Bakery and “it’s normal that they have a vendetta against the police.”
The DMP chief said that the police are being targeted possibly because the terrorists have failed to turn Bangladesh into another Pakistan, Afghanistan or Syria.
On whether there was any progress on the Gulisthan and Malibagh attacks, he said that significant progress has been made but for the sake of the investigation nothing regarding the suspects or arrests can be revealed.
“A timer was set on the bomb that exploded at Gulisthan and the one placed inside the police vehicle at Malibagh was remote controlled. We have ample evidence for that,” he added. Following the Saturday’s incident, Sub-Inspector (SI) Zahurul Islam, In-Charge of Science Lab Police Box, filed a case accusing some unidentified miscreants with the New Market Police Station yesterday, said Abdul Mannan, Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) of the police station.
However, police could not arrest anyone in this connection.
Meanwhile, the militant outfit Islamic State (IS) has again claimed responsibility for the crude bomb attack on police in Dhaka, said terrorism watchdog SITE Intelligence Group.
The US-based SITE Intelligence said in a tweet on Sunday, “IS claims credit for bomb blast on police in Bangladeshi capital.”
SITE Intelligence had previously informed about IS’s claim of responsibility of the 2016 terrorist attack on Holey Artisan Bakery in Gulshan as well as another attack on the police in the capital’s Gulistan in April this year.
On Saturday, two policemen, including a security detail of LGRD Minister Tazul Islam, were injured in the attack when the minister was passing through Dhaka’s Science Laboratory area around 9:20 pm.
The injured are Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) Shahabuddin and Constable Aminul, who were admitted to Dhaka Medical College and Hospital. ASI Shahabuddin was escorting LGRD Minister Tazul Islam through the area.
On May 26, two people, including a female police officer, were injured after a bomb went off near a police pickup in the capital’s Malibagh intersection.
In another incident, two traffic police constables and a community traffic policeman were injured in a blast at Gulistan on April 29.
