One dead, 25 hurt in Bangladesh blast

DHAKA - A bomb blast near a Bangladesh court building where lawyers were marching to protest against violence killed one man and injured 25 yesterday, police and witnesses said.

The explosion occurred at a police checkpoint near the building in Gazipur, 30km north of the capital Dhaka, where six people died and 50 were wounded in a suicide bombing on Tuesday.

Some of the wounded had been rushed to Dhaka Medical College Hospital and one of them died on the way, hospital doctors told reporters.

Those hurt included five policemen and three newspaper reporters, witnesses and police said.

Three other people, including two police officers, were also killed on Tuesday by a would-be suicide bomber outside a court building in Chittagong port city.

The bomber, who gave his name to police as Abul Bashar, lost both legs and his right hand in the blast and died in hospital yesterday, police said.

Yesterday's blast took the death toll from suicide attacks this week to 12, including three bombers, police said.

"The suspected bomber... disguised himself as a tea vendor," said Kazi Fazle Rabbi, Gazipur district commissioner.

"One of his flasks exploded when police stopped him for checking."

Yesterday police recovered a live bomb at an administrative building at Narayanganj town, 16km east of the capital Dhaka, on Thursday.

Explosive experts from elite force Rapid Action Battalion removed the "powerful bomb" from the building, a police officer said.

Lawyers called yesterday's national strike to press for greater security and immediate government action to prevent further attacks on the judiciary.

Bangladesh has been hit this year by a wave of bombings blamed on militants demanding Islamic law in the mainly Muslim democracy.

Hundreds of people from two outlawed Muslim groups, Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen and Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh, have been arrested this year.

The State Minister for Home Affairs Lutufuzzaman Babar said earlier this month that there were reports that the Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen had set up a 2000-strong suicide squad.

Police said on Wednesday they had detained 22 suspected Islamist militants following Tuesday's bomb attacks at court buildings.

- REUTERS