Bangladesh minister’s car attacked by bomb explosion, 2 policemen injured

DHAKA, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) — Two policemen were injured as a crude bomb exploded next to a Bangladeshi minister’s car on a capital Dhaka street on Saturday night, a local police official said Sunday morning.
   The explosion left two policemen injured. Police were not sure who was behind the blast, a Dhaka Metropolitan Politan (DMP) official said.
   U.S.-based monitoring site, SITE Intelligence said in a Twitter post Sunday “IS (Islamic State) claims credit for bomb blast on police in Bangladesh capital.”
   Six policemen were escorting Local Government, Rural Development Minister Tazul Islam while he was on way to a program of Bangladesh border force — Border Guard Bangladesh(BGB, formerly known as BDR ) when the bomb explosion happened, the DMP official said.
   Quoting eyewitnesses, he said the bomb was thrown most likely from a footbridge at an intersection in the city’s Science Lab area at around 9:20 p.m. local time Saturday night. Minister Tazul was unhurt in his car, he added.
   Both the injured, Assistant Sub-Inspector Shahabuddin and Constable Aminul, were rushed to the Dhaka Medical College Hospital. Shahabuddin reportedly suffered injuries to his leg while Aminul to his hand.
   In May this year an attack of similar fashion happened in Dhaka injuring three policemen and IS later claimed credit for the incident.                  The IS also claimed responsibility for the cafe attack in 2016, in which five gunmen stormed the Spanish Holey Artisan Bakery cafe in Dhaka’s diplomatic area of Gulshan on July 1, 2016, and took several dozen hostages.
   When Dhaka Metropolitan Police tried to regain control of the bakery, two police officers were shot dead. Twenty-two civilians were also killed in the clash, most of whom were foreign nationals.
   But Bangladeshi authorities rejected the IS claim, saying operatives of a banned local militant outfit — Neo-JMB, an offshoot of banned militant outfit Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), plotted the attack to boast about their existence.  Enditem