At least one dead in attack on Shiite mosque in Bangladesh

'Three or four unidentified assailants fired at 15-18 Shiite Muslims as they were praying,' police said.

DHAKA // At least one person was killed and three other wounded on Thursday when unidentified assailants fired “indiscriminately” at Shiite worshippers in a northern Bangladesh town, police said.

The attack happened at a Shiite mosque in Shibganj, some 125 kilometres north of Dhaka, when worshippers were holding their early evening prayers.

“So far one person has died after he was hit by bullets. The attackers entered the mosque and fired indiscriminately,” said local police chief M Asaduzzaman.

Another police official, Abdul Karim, said “three other worshippers were injured after three or four unidentified assailants fired at 15-18 Shiite Muslims as they were praying inside a mosque”.

The gunmen fled after the attack and none were arrested, police said.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attack, but it came a day after police shot dead a militant accused of hurling grenades at the country’s main Shiite shrine last month.

The attack in Dhaka left two people dead.

* Agence France-Presse