A Bangladesh prayer gathering was attacked by assailants armed with guns and bombs on Thursday, killing one policeman and injuring at least 10 others during an Eid event.
The perpetrators were surrounded after they took shelter in a house, Dhaka range Deputy Inspector Mahfuzul Haque Nuruzzaman told CNN — they originally attacked a gathering checkpoint near the prayer gathering.
More than 300,000 worshipers were praying in an area called Sholakia, 62 miles (100 kilometers) northeast of Dhaka, when the attack began, Kishoregunj District Police Assistant Superintendent Shoaib Abu Shayal said.
Unlike previous terrorist attacks in Bangladesh, Thursday’s violence was directed entirely at Muslims on one of the religion’s holiest days.
Bangladeshi Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu confirmed one of the attackers had been arrested by authorities, while another had been killed.
“It is not yet clear who was behind the attack but these terrorists are against the true religious practices of Islam and against the secular democratic government of Seikh Hasina,” he told CNN.
“Eid congregations all across Bangladesh were peaceful except this incident.”
The minister said no worshipers had been injured in the attack, which happened more than a kilometer away from the main congregation.
A day before the event, police said they had put strict security measures in place, including uniformed and plain clothes officers as well as closed circuit security cameras.
Attendees would also be searched before they entered the premises, which held the largest Eid congregation in Bangladesh.
It comes less than a week after 22 people were killed in a terrorist attack on a popular bakery in Dhaka, an act of violence which shocked Bangladesh due to its size and the middle-class backgrounds of the perpetrators.
The Eid-al-Fitr festival celebrates the end of Ramadan, when Muslim families break their fast and celebrate with their communities and families.
As reported by CNN