Prayers offered for peace as thousands attend Eid prayers

Eid is here after a month of fasting for Muslims in Bangladesh.

Like previous years, people filled the main prayer congregations at the National Eidgah Maidan on Thursday morning.

Others prayed in the smaller congregations in their neighbourhood mosques. The sound of sermons filled the air.

The Baitul Mukarram National Mosque held its first prayers at 7am, and the first at the National Eidgah Maidan followed in an hour.

President Md Abdul Hamid, cabinet members, politicians, diplomats and government officials prayed at the national mosque.

People from all walks of life joined prayers at the Eidgah. Maulana Mizanur Rahman who led the prayers, said: “Allah, please ensure peace for this nation and its people.

“Protect it from danger and secure the Muslim Ummah.”

Eid-ul-Fitr this year comes barely a week after gunmen hacked and shot to death 20 hostages and killed two policemen after storming an upscale restaurant in Gulshan-2, the heart of Dhaka’s diplomatic district.

The siege came after  a series of targeted killing of bloggers, teachers, secular thinkers, religious minorities, gay-right activists and also a policeman’s wife by suspected Islamist militants.

The Islamic State and al-Qaeda’s local affiliate have been competitive in claiming the attacks, but the government maintains these were the works of homegrown militants.