ISIS claims responsibility for Bangladesh mosque attack: SITE

US-based SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors jihadist activity, said on its website that the Islamic State group had claimed responsibility for the yesterday’s attack in a message posted on Twitter.

“The attackers entered the mosque and opened hearth on the devotees after locking the primary gate after which fled instantly after the capturing”, police official Ahsan Habib stated.

Officials, who have denied a strong Islamic State presence in the country, blamed the militant Bangladeshi group Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen for the attack.

Two people were detained in connection with the attack and were being questioned, he said, without giving further details.

Bangladesh’s government has rejected Islamic State claims of involvement in the attacks and says local militants are involved.

Earlier on Thursday, police said they had killed a top militant suspected of having masterminded the Oct 24 attack on the Shi’ite shrine in Dhaka. “This terrorist group is trying to drive a wedge between the Sunnis and Shias”, Hussain told VOA.

Local Shiite leader Mir Zulfiqar Ali said that there was a growing sense of fear among the community.

Bangladesh has been roiled by violence for much of the last three years since a domestic tribunal began delivering its verdicts on opposition figures accused of orchestrating massacres during the 1971 war.

Later it continued its violent campaign by attacking and killing judges and police, also threatened journalists and women for not wearing veils.

“Killing people during prayers at mosques is not a job done by a true Muslim… nor is suicide a job of a true Muslim”, she was quoted as saying.

Due to the deteriorating security situation for non-Muslims, Australia has asked volunteers to pull back from working in Bangladesh, as the country continues to be bombarded by jihadi terror.

One such instance came in September, when 51-year-old Italian national Cesare Tavella was shot dead while jogging home in Dhaka after swimming in the American International School’s pool.