The Islamic State (IS) has taken responsibility for a blast in front of a police box at the entrance to Dhaka’s Shahjalal International Airport, describing it as a “suicide attack.”
Terrorism monitoring group SITE Intelligence tweeted that the militant group’s mouthpiece Amaq news agency reported the “suicide bombing” in the Bangladesh capital near the airport on Friday night, in which the bomber was killed.
“For the 2nd time in one week, #ISIS claimed a suicide bombing in the #Bangladesh capital #Dhaka, the latest targeting a police checkpoint,” SITE said in another Twitter message.
Dhaka police rule out suicide attack
An airport police officer had initially said it was a “suicide attack,” but Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) later ruled it out as an attack of that nature, Bdnews24 reported.
DMP Commissioner Asaduzzaman Mia said that it was suspected that the man was carrying a bomb in the bag.
He declined to comment on whether militants were involved in the blast, which occurred a week after what the law-enforcing agencies said was a suicide attack on a RAB camp in nearby Ashkona.
