Blast kills 1 near airport police box
'Bomb attached to the man's body explodes', 3 more bombs found later; police rule out suicide attack as claimed by IS-linked website
A man was killed when a bomb attached to his waist exploded near a police box at the Airport intersection in the capital yesterday, police said.
No one was injured in the incident.
Hours after the incident, Islamic State claimed responsibility for the blast. Terrorism monitoring group SITE Intelligence citing IS's mouthpiece Amaq news agency reported it as “suicide bombing”.
The incident took place just a week after a man sneaked into a Rab barrack in the capital's Ashkona and blew himself up there. Two Rab members were slightly injured.
Briefing reporters at the scene, Dhaka Metropolitan Police Commissioner Asaduzzaman Mia said, “It seems the man with a trolley bag was taking the bomb somewhere. But seeing policemen, he must have become too cautious and ended up causing an explosion.”
The identity of the man, aged between 30 and 32, could not be known yet. The man was wearing jeans and a full-sleeve shirt, he added.
He added that there was a checkpoint at the spot and the man was trying to avoid it and became “too cautious”.
What exactly happened could be known once a “full-fledged investigation is done”, Asaduzzaman said.
“The man's intention was not to attack any policemen. Some 8-10 cops were only about 20 steps away from where the bomb exploded. He could have reached them if he wanted. But he didn't. So it was an accident in which he died.”
The police commissioner, however, asked journalists not to draw any connection between yesterday's incident and the one inside the Rab barrack.
Talking to this newspaper immediately after the incident, a police officer said the incident occurred around 7:15pm. “It can be a suicide attack. We will be able to tell for sure after investigation.”
Commissioner Asaduzzaman said the man was walking on a pavement opposite the street leading to the airport.
About three hours after the incident, law enforcers blocked traffic movement on the Airport Road. Later, police destroyed three other bombs that they said were in the trolley bag the man was carrying.
They also said one of the bombs, weighing over 10kgs, was powerful. As police destroyed it, its splinters reached as far as 300 metres, injuring three bystanders and shattering glass windows of several vehicles of law enforcers and those of the police box.
Splinters the size of marble balls were strewn on the Airport Road.
The body of the man was sent to Dhaka Medical College Hospital for an autopsy.
Addition policemen were deployed in and around the area.