Muezzin gunned down in shooting at Shia mosque in Bogra

Gunmen have sprayed bullets on a Shia mosque in Bogra during prayers, leaving the muezzin dead and the imam and two others injured.

Police said the attack took place during the Maghrib prayers at Al-Mostefa mosque at Haripur in Shibganj Upazila on Thursday.

Witnesses said three young attackers sprayed bullets on the Muslims who were on Sijdah during the prayers.

The attackers could not be identified immediately and the motive remained unclear.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.

Locals said Sunni Muslims in the area had no dispute with the Shias.

The attack was carried out 34 days after explosions in a gathering of Shia Muslim’s at Old Dhaka’s Hossaini Dalan during Ashura, leaving one dead and over 100 injured. Another victim had later died from the injuries.

Hardliner Islamic State had reportedly admitted the attack in Dhaka.

The government and law-enforcing agencies have consistently denied the Middle East group’s presence in Bangladesh.

Police shot one dead and arrested five in a raid in Dhaka on Wednesday.

The law enforcers claimed these six had carried out the attack at Hossaini Dalan.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said after the attack in Bogra that those attacking mosques were not ‘true Muslims’.

Bogra district Additional Superintendent of Police Arifur Rahman Mandal confirmed that one had been killed in the latest attack and three injured.

The deceased was identified as Moazzem Hossain, 70.

Bogra Shaheed Ziaur Rahman Medical College Hospital’s Dr SM Jahidul Islam declared him dead when he was brought to the hospital with bullet injuries.

Those wounded included imam Shahinur Rahman, 60. The two others – Taher Mistri, 50, and Aftab Ali, 40 – had come to offer prayers.

Rahman and Mistri were undergoing treatment at the hospital.

Doctors said they were not out of danger.

Ali was admitted to Shibganj Upazila Health Complex.

Shibganj Police Station OC Ahsan Habib said police found several bullet shells at the mosque.

SP Md Asaduzzaman, who visited the scene, said police were trying to arrest the assailants.