Airports, prisons ordered to increase security after Ashkona 'suicide blast'

Airports and prisons across Bangladesh have been ordered to increase security following a suicide bomb explosion in Dhaka on Friday.

Senior Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 17 March 2017, 10:42 AM
Updated : 17 March 2017, 04:09 PM

An unidentified man jumped over the boundary of a makeshift RAB camp in Ashkona around 1pm Friday.

The bomb on his body exploded while he tried to escape the personnel inside.

Law enforcers were yet to say who were responsible for attack that left two RAB men injured.

The alert for increased security came within two hours of the Ashkona incident, Additional Inspector General of Prisons Iqbal Hasan told bdnews24.com.

"It isn’t a red alert. But we have received orders for more vigilance," he said.

"We are always alert. But we have been told to intensify our security because of that incident," said Superintendent Jahangir Kabir of Dhaka Central Jail.

There are more than 70,000 inmates at 68 jails across the country.

A series of murders that started in 2015 continued until the middle of last year. Secular writers, publishers, bloggers and religious minorities were among those targeted.

There have been suicide bomb attacks on police check posts and also a Navy mosque at Chittagong during that period.

The security situation seemed to be in control after police raids on multiple hideouts following the deadly terror attack that left 20 dead in a Gulshan cafe on Jul 1, 2016.

Law enforcement agencies claimed to have limited the capacity of militant groups. 
 
On Mar 7 however, militancy returned to the spotlight after two 'militants' hurled bombs at police checking a bus in Comilla.

Police's counter-terrorism unit nabbed one of them and taking him along, led a drive at a 'hideout' in Mirsarai Upazila the same night. 

A couple was then caught with explosives from a house at Chittagong's Sitakunda Upazila on Wednesday.

The counter-terror unit and SWAT then led a drive at a nearby 'hideout' for 19 long hours based on information the two divulged.  
 
Four militants including one female died during the Sitakunda raid that also witnessed one suicide explosion. A child’s body was found next to the body of the woman.