Deadly attack on Shia mosque in Bangladesh

Mosque muezzin shot dead and three wounded after masked gunmen open fire on Shia worshipers at evening prayer.

Bangladesh
Witnesses said three young attackers stormed the mosque and shot at worshipers indiscriminately [AP]

Dhaka, Bangladesh – Gunmen stormed a Shia mosque and opened fire on praying worshipers, killing one man and wounding three others in northwestern Bangladesh, police said.

Three masked attackers entered the Imam Khomeini mosque in Haripur village and began shooting indiscriminately before escaping, witnesses told Al Jazeera. At least 20 people were performing evening prayers at the time on Thursday.

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Seventy-year-old Moazzem Hossain – the mosque’s muezzin, the man who calls Muslims to prayer – died shortly after being admitted to hospital.

“We were all praying when they attacked us,” Imam Shahinur Islam, 35, who was hit in the waist by gunfire, told Al Jazeera.

“The rest were not harmed as they quickly lay down on the floor.”

No one has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.

“We cannot say what happened until the investigation is complete,” Superintendent of Police Arifur Rahman Mandal told Al Jazeera.

Police found eight spent bullet shells at the scene.

Aftab Ali, 42, and Abu Taher, 70, suffered wounds to their legs.

It was the second recent attack on the country’s small Shia community. It came a day after police killed the main suspect behind last month’s bombing of a Shia shrine in Dhaka that left two people dead and wounded dozens.

Source: Al Jazeera