Bangladesh arrests 3 in police station blast, denies IS link

Bangleshi police said y arrested three suspects in bombing of a Dhaka police station and denied a claim of responsibility by Islamic State group, saying attackers were motivated by criminal intent. Five people, including four police, were injured when a bomb hidden inside a weight machine-like object went off inside Pallabi police station on Wednesday morning. Islamic State group claimed credit for blast in a statement same day.

Three suspected hitmen were arrested Wednesday along with two loed firearms and ar weight machine-like object, said Dhaka Metropolitan Police ditional Commissioner Krishna Pa Roy.Dhaka Metropolitan Police Deputy Commissioner for Counterterrorism and Transnational Crime Saiful Islam denied any links between Islamic State group and blast.“IS me this kind of false claim in past, too. This is also part of that process," he said. “As per information available so far, criminal intentions were behind blast and we’re investigating incident.”He also described as baseless claims me by U.S.-based SITE Intelligence Group’s founder Rita Katz.

Katz, in tweet Wednesday, said blast marked first attack in Dhaka since last August and was part of a campaign in le-up to Muslim holiday of Eid al-ha. IS has claimed similar attacks on police in past. Authorities do t publicly reveal results of ir investigations.Banglesh has a history of attacks by rical groups. It experienced a rise in Islamic militancy in recent years, with groups targeting aist bloggers, publishers and writers, members of mirity groups and foreigners.

On July 1, 2016, five militants took hosts and opened fire in a Dhaka cafe, killing more than 20 people, mostly foreigners. Seven members of a banned militant group were sentenced to death for attack last year. government h also rejected IS claim of responsibility.

(Im Credit: Instagram/Popsila/ Banglesh Police Acemy)