Five people including four police personnel were injured when a bomb exploded at Pallabi police station here on Wednesday morning, officials said.

The incident took place at around 6 a.m., when officer-in-charge of the police station was interrogating three terrorists, a senior police official told IANS.

Police said that the explosion occurred from a weight machine.

Officer-in-charge (Investigation) of the police station and another three cops were injured in the blast.

Police suspect extremists' links behind explosion in the capital and a bomb-like substance was recovered.

Additional Police Commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan, Krishna Pada Roy said ,"No militancy links have been traced yet."

The police have recovered the weight machine and bomb from three persons in the morning.

Roy said, "An explosion occurred inside the police station when the bomb disposal unit was working, leaving four cops and a boy injured. The arrested are being interrogated. Till now no link was traced, but it is suspected that they might have terrorist link."

He added, "August has always been alarming month for us, as bombings in August 1975 and 2004, have rocked the country."

A criminal gang based in Mirpur is active, who can carry out this terrorist activities, police official said.

Naldanga police station OC Nazrul Islam said,"A team has recovered a bomb-like object from Kalshi graveyard earlier in the morning. They brought it to the police station.We informed a bomb disposal unit to neutralise it. However, it exploded before the unit could reach the police station."

Two of the injured police officials have been shifted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital and one at National Eye Institute. Two others were given first aid.

Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal on Tuesday evening told IANS: "Everyting is under watch. There is nothing to be worried about."

Soon after the explosion, people were evacuated from the vicinity and the shops were closed by the police authority after 11 a.m.

On July 19, Police Headquarters issued a letter regarding a possible attack by members of the so-called Islamic State (IS) just ahead of Eid in the name of their so-called mission "Bengal Uliyah" or "Bengal Khilafat," and alerted all the district SPs and other respective units.

In the letter, 3 embassies, international airports, Ahmadiyya and Shia community mosques, temples, pagodas, churches, policemen, police vehicles, and police infrastructure were mentioned as the possible targets of militants.

(Sumi Khan can be contacted at sumikhan29bdj@gmail.com)
(IANS)