A global monitoring group said the Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for an explosion targeting a police van in Bangladesh’s capital, but police said Monday they were not sure who was behind it.
Police said Sunday night’s explosion in Dhaka’s Malibagh area left three people injured, including a police officer. After the explosion, the van caught fire.
U.S.-based SITE Intelligence said in a Twitter post that IS was behind the explosion.
Dhaka Police Commissioner Asaduzzman Mia said Monday that the bomb had been planted in the van. He said it was more powerful than an explosion in April in Dhaka that was also claimed by IS.
Mia visited two of the injured who were being treated in a hospital following Sunday’s blast. Various police investigating agencies visited the explosion site and collected samples as part of their investigation.
Bangladesh has a history of attacks by Islamist radical groups.
In 2016, five young Bangladeshi men stormed a cafe in Dhaka’s diplomatic zone and killed 20 people, including 17 foreigners. Two other security officials died in a hospital. The IS had claimed the responsibility for the cafe attacks, but the government rejected the claim as authorities routinely deny that the group has any presence in the Muslim-majority nation of 160 million people. Instead, the government says the domestic militant group Jumatul Mujahedeen Bangladesh was behind it.