An Islamist suicide bomber on Friday blew himself up inside a camp of Bangladesh’s elite security forces near the Dhaka International Airport, injuring two security personnel, in an attack claimed by the ISIS terror group.
“It was an incident of suicide bombing. The suicide attacker targeted our camp,” Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) spokesman Commander Mufty Mahmud said.
Authorities have issued an alert for all international and domestic airports and prisons in the country and ordered to step up security.
“It is not a red alert, but we have received orders for more vigilance. We are always alert. We have been told to intensify our security because of that incident,” said Superintendent Jahangir Kabir of Dhaka Central Jail.
The ISIS terror group, within hours, claimed the attack on its Arabic Amaq news agency, saying one of its supporters carried out the suicide bomb attack on an RAB barrack, Dhaka Tribune reported. It is the first attack ISIS has claimed in Bangladesh this year and 27th since September 2015.
Over 70,000 inmates are lodged at 68 jails in the country. The area where the incident took place was earmarked for constructing the headquarters of the force. The blast wounded two RAB men who were being treated at the nearby Combined Military Hospital in Dhaka Cantonment.
The officer said the attack appeared to be an act of any militant outfit, but it was not clear immediately which of the Islamist outfits staged it.
“Right now we are concentrating our attention to ascertain if the complex and the neighbourhood are secured,” Mahmud said as police’s counter terrorism unit with bomb disposal team reached the scene while thoroughfares around the complex were blocked for vehicular movements.