Ruling party leader injured in bomb attack

Three bombs were hurled at local BNP leader Azim, 35, at Amanatpur village on Friday night, seriously injuring him.

A ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) leader was seriously injured in a bomb attack in the west of the country, police said on Saturday.

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Three bombs were hurled at local BNP leader Azim, 35, at Amanatpur village on Friday night, seriously injuring him, police in Kushtia said.

In a separate incident around the same time, two powerful bombs were hurled at Rashid Agrofood, a rice mill owned by a BNP leader, but there were no casualties, police said.

The rice mill came into limelight last month when security personnel cordoned it off in their hunt for the top two leaders of banned Islamic militant outfit Jamaatul Mujaheedin Bangladesh -- Shaikh Abdur Rahman and Bangla Bhai.

Media reports said that soon after the bombings, a man claiming to be an organiser of Al-Qaeda network for southwestern Khulna division, telephoned local newsmen and owned responsibility for the attacks.

He also threatened to attack the owner of Rashid Agrofood and the officer-in-charge of Sadar thana or its any sub-inspector within a week, the reports said.