Associated Press Writer
GAZIPUR, Bangladesh (AP) – A bomb thrown by an Islamic militant disguised as a tea vendor exploded outside a government building Thursday in a town near the Bangladeshi capital, killing one person and wounding at least 29, authorities said.
The militant, who was hurt and captured after the blast, threw a tea container holding the bomb after police threatened to shoot him when he refused to be searched, said Gazipur police chief Atiqul Islam.
The bomb exploded outside a sprawling complex that houses the chief government administrator’s office and a courthouse in Gazipur, north of the capital of Dhaka, two days after suspected Islamic suicide bombers killed seven people in the town.
Islamic militants have repeatedly targeted lawyers and judges in Bangladesh, accusing them of promoting secular laws instead of Islamic Sharia rule.
Emergency workers rushed 16 of the most seriously injured to a hospital in Dhaka, where one person died of shrapnel injuries, said Dr. Mozammel Haq.
The bomber was disguised as a tea vendor near a line of people waiting to enter the government buildings, the police chief said.
Dr. Abdul Halim Mollah quoted the man as saying: “I was ordered by Allah to kill those who don’t heed Allah’s instructions.”
Among the injured were four policemen, seven lawyers and three journalists, according to a doctor at a local hospital.
Police said they also discovered another large bomb in a government office in Narayanganj, southeast of Dhaka.
Bombings on Tuesday killed seven people in Gazipur and two people in Chittagong.
Officials blamed those blasts on Jumatul Mujahideen Bangladesh, a banned militant group that seeks to establish harsh Islamic rule in Muslim-majority Bangladesh, which is governed by secular laws.
Police detained nearly 50 suspects for questioning Tuesday and Wednesday in several districts, including two in Gazipur
