22 people have been injured in a mob attack on an Ahmadiyya Mosque in Bangladesh.

According to a report by the Daily Star, a group of 70-80 people from another mosque attacked the Ahmadiyya mosque following Friday prayers. Both of the Mosques are located in the Madarganj Upazila of Jamalpur district, a locality in the north of Bangladesh.

Shahidul Islam, the local president of the Madarganj Upazila area, said he had donated his land for the building of an Ahmadi Mosque.

We were in the process of inaugurating the Mosque on Friday when suddenly a group of people attacked us, said Shahidul, also a resident of the village.

Guests of the inauguration ceremony which included SM Asaduzzaman Razib, an Ahmadiyya imam of Hosnabad village, and Faridul Islam, president of the local Ahmadi community also got injured during the attack.

Imam Razib claimed that the attack was carried out under the orders of Monirul Islam Monir, a religious affairs secretary of the upazila unit of Awami League. He said the

“Soon after the attack, villagers rushed to the scene and rescued the victims from further voilence” He added that he reported the attack to the local police over the phone.

On information, police rushed to the spot and took the people of the community to the police station on security grounds, said Rafiqul Islam, officer-in-charge (OC) of Madarganj police.

Officer Islam said that Monirul and his group were asked to come down to the police station.

The issues were settled there after both sides agreed that they would refrain from any untoward incident in future, added the OC.

Meanwhile, Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at expressed its concern over the attack saying that the attack was a part of an ill attempt to turn the country a ‘fundamentalist and militant’ one.

In a statement, it said a vested quarter is trying to make chaotic situation ahead of the national elections. It also feared the recurrence of such incidents in future.

The statement also blamed so-called waz mahfil (religious discussion) for misleading people and instigating them.

The community demanded that the authorities concerned take measures to bring perpetrators of the incidents to justice. </s> PARACHINAR, Pakistan: An explosion apparently targeting a mosque in Pakistan's northwestern city of Parachinar, in a remote area bordering Afghanistan, killed at least 22 people on Friday and wounded dozens, officials said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility but the blast, which took place as people gathered for Friday prayers near the women's entrance of a Shia mosque in the central bazaar, follows a series of attacks this year.

The local political agent, Ikramullah Khan, said the death toll had reached 22, with 70 injured.

A parliamentarian from Parachinar, Sajid Hussain, said gunfire preceded the blast, which he described as a suicide attack.

"The attack took place in a busy area and a women's mosque appears to be the target," he said.

Last month, more than 80 people were killed and dozens wounded in an attack on a crowded Sufi shrine in southern Pakistan that was claimed by Islamic State.

In January, at least 21 people were killed when an explosion hit a vegetable market in Parachinar, capital of the Kurram tribal region, where Pakistani security forces have battled militant groups for years.

Authorities in mainly Sunni-Muslim Pakistan said a military rescue helicopter had been sent to the scene to help evacuate the injured.

Mumtaz Hussain, a doctor at the Agency Headquarters Hospital in the region, said five bodies, including a woman and two children, and more than three dozen wounded had been brought to the hospital and an appeal for blood donors had been made.

"Patients are being brought to us in private cars and ambulances and we have received over three dozen patients so far," Hussain told Reuters.

The attacks have shattered hopes that Pakistan may have come through the militant violence that has scarred its recent history and increased pressure on Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's government to show it was improving security.

Sharif condemned the attack and said the government would keep up efforts to "eliminate the menace of terrorism".

In a statement, he said: "The network of terrorists has already been broken and it is our national duty to continue this war until the complete annihilation of the scourge of terrorism from our soil." </s> world

Updated: Oct 08, 2016 22:32 IST

Bangladeshi security officials on Saturday killed 11 suspected militants of the banned Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) in three separate raids as the country reinforced its counter-terrorism efforts.

Home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal said the operations were carried out at Gazipur near the national capital, and in Tangail district.

Acting on a tip-off, teams of the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and police's counter-terrorism unit took part in the raids.

Kamal said the suspects were members of the outlawed JMB, blamed by the government for a spate of attacks across the country.

The raids took place at Patartek and Harinal areas of Gazipur and in Tangail district. Security officials recovered an AK-47, bullets, bomb-making materials and meat cleavers from a spot in Gazipur.

“Akash”, a new leader of the splinter group "Neo JMB" was among those killed in the raid at Patartek, Khan said. Officials said Akash became the leader of the Neo JMB after Tamim Chowdhury, a Bangladeshi-origin Canadian, was killed with two accomplices in a similar raid at Narayanganj district in August.

Officials said the militants were preparing to carry out attacks during the Durga Puja festival, which is going on in full swing in the Muslim-majority nation.

Bangladesh was stunned after Islamist extremists killed 20 hostages, including an Indian national and 16 more foreigners, during a siege at Holey Artisan Bakery restaurant in Dhaka's Gulshan diplomatic zone on July 1.

Since then, security agencies have killed at least 32 suspected militants in raids in Dhaka and elsewhere.

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the July 1 attack but the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina rejected the claim and said the Sunni extremist group has no presence in the country.

First Published: Oct 08, 2016 18:38 IST </s> Six people have been killed and eight others were injured after at least two gunmen opened fire in a Quebec City mosque Sunday night.

Premier Philippe Couillard described it as a terrorist attack.

At a press conference early Monday morning, a Sûreté du Québec spokesperson said two suspects were arrested – one near the mosque, and another near Île d'Orléans, east of Quebec City. Police said nothing leads them to believe that other people were involved.

The victims ranged in age from 35 to 60, police said.

There were 39 people at the mosque who were not injured.

The president of the mosque told the Montreal Gazette he received a call around 8 p.m. saying there had been a shooting. He said people were at the Centre Culturel Islamique de Québec for regular evening prayers.

"This is a terrible event," Mohamed Yangui said. "We're in a state of shock, I can't find words to describe it."

Yangui said five people were killed and many others injured. He said men, women and children attend evening prayers.

The mosque has about 5,000 members and is one of six in the Quebec City region.

Last June, worshippers at the same mosque discovered the severed head of a pig left in front of one of the doors, wrapped in cellophane with bows and ribbon, and a card that said “bonne appétit.”

Three weeks later, an Islamophobic letter titled "What is the most serious: a pig's head or a genocide" was distributed in the vicinity.

But Yangui said the mosque had not received any threats recently.

"We have a very good relationship with the neighbours, with the community," he said. "There's mutual respect — and now today we have this dramatic event."

The mosque has several video cameras and Yangui said their footage might be able to help with the police investigation.

A man who said he was a witness to the attack told Radio-Canada two masked suspects entered the mosque. The man said the men appeared to have thick Québécois accents and shouted "Allahu akbar" as they began shooting. He said the bullets struck people who were praying.

Quebec City police spokesperson Étienne Doyon told reporters that police received a first call around 7:55 p.m. on Sunday, stating shots had been heard at the mosque.

Friends and bystanders around the security parameter stood huddled in the cold, incredulous, unable to believe such violence could occur in Quebec City, a city with a notoriously low crime rate.

Ben Abdallah, who often prays at the Ste-Foy mosque, described the event as "catastrophic. We never thought ... but given the hateful speeches all around the planet, it can happen," he said.

Hamid Nadji had friends who were inside the mosque at the time of the shooting. He spoke to them afterward, and described the scene as "a carnage."

"From what we heard over the phone, one person had a weapon discharged in his face because he had wanted to jump on the man to stop him. And the three others died because they wanted to catch the man."

He said the assailant went into the mosque a first time, then left to recharge his weapon and came back a second, then a third time.

"Many of the people who lived through this fled their home countries to avoid such situations, because they lived through trauma and didn't want the same for their children."

A non-profit group that fights Islamophobia in Quebec said it has been asking authorities "for years" to deal with threats and attacks on Quebec mosques.

The Collectif Canadien Anti-Islamophobie said on Twitter Sunday night that the Quebec City attack was preventable but nothing was done.

The Islamic Centre of Quebec said: 'This attack on a sanctuary where innocent people, including children, gather has shaken us deeply. It runs against the core values we hold as Canadians."

It urged "the Muslim community to remain calm, united and know that the Canadian people stand with us in solidarity. We have faith that the great people of this country will stand and work together during this difficult time."

The shooting came two days after U.S. President Donald Trump imposed an American travel ban that has barred citizens of seven majority-Muslim countries from entering the United States.

Montreal police chief Philippe Pichet said the department will be more visible at certain locations, is in contact with the Muslim community and will meet with community leaders Monday morning.

A vigil has already been planned in Montreal on Monday.

On Twitter, several hashtags emerged, including #JeSuisQuébec, #IAmQuebec and #PrayForQuebec.

Witnesses say about a dozen people were wounded and some reports state two of three suspected gunmen have been arrested.

A live video feed on a Facebook page of a mosque showed images of multiple police vehicles and yellow police tape.

Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard described it as "barbaric violence" and saying "the government is mobilized to ensure the security of the Quebec population."

Quebec City Mayor Régis Labeaume said his city stands with the families of the victims and members of the mosque, and will support them through this "terrible ordeal that defies reason."

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo denounced the attack.

Gatineau Mayor Maxime Pedneaud-Jobin said police in his city have increased patrols around mosques in the city.

More to come. </s> KARACHI: At least 13 people, including five policemen, were on Tuesday injured in two separate suicide bombings during Eid prayers targeting minority Shias in Pakistan’s relatively peaceful southern Sindh province.

Four suicide attackers infiltrated Shikarpur district’s Khanpur tehsil, 470 kilometres north of Karachi, police said.

Two of the attackers targeted an Eid prayer ground where one assailant blew himself up, injuring 10 people, two of whom were policemen. The other attacker fled, they said.

Two other suicide bombers targeted a Shia mosque but they were stopped at the entrance by policemen, which led to one of the attackers to blow himself up while the other was arrested.

Three policemen were injured in the attack, one of whom was critical. Last year, at least 61 people were killed in a suicide attack on a mosque in the district.

“If the policemen had not prevented these suicide bombers from entering the prayer venues there would have been large-scale casualties because of the large gathering because of Eid prayers,” he said.

He said the attackers at the Shia mosque were stopped by policemen as they looked suspicious and when confronted one of them detonated himself.

“The other attacker was brought down and arrested,” he added. Those injured in the blast have been admitted to hospitals in Shikarpur for treatment. No group has immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. </s> DHAKA (Reuters) - A court in Bangladesh on Tuesday sentenced two militants to death and jailed three for life after finding them guilty of killing a university professor two years ago, a prosecutor said.

The Muslim-majority country of 160 million people has seen a string of violent attacks in recent years targeting liberals, foreigners and religious minorities.

Rezaul Karim Siddiquee, 58, an English professor at northwestern Rajshahi University, was hacked to death in April 2016. Militant group Islamic State claimed responsibility for the killing, accusing him of issuing a "call to atheism".

The trial court also jailed three men for life, public prosecutor Entajul Haque told reporters, after the verdict was delivered in a packed courtroom.

One of the five, Shariful Islam, a student of the professor and believed to have masterminded his killing, was tried in absentia and received a death sentence, he added.

In November, police charged eight members of the home-grown Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen militant group in the case. Police said three more accused were killed in an exchange of gunfire.

Investigators believe the same group, which has pledged allegiance to Islamic State, was behind a major attack in the diplomatic quarter of Dhaka in July 2016, when gunmen stormed a restaurant, killing 22 people, most of them foreigners.

Islamic State and al Qaeda have claimed a series of killings of liberals and members of religious minorities in Bangladesh in the past few years.

Authorities have consistently ruled out the presence of such groups, blaming domestic militants instead. However, security experts say the scale and sophistication of the restaurant attack suggested links to a wider network. </s> A bomb apparently targeting a mosque in Pakistan's northwestern city of Parachinar killed at least 22 people on Friday and wounded dozens in an attack claimed by the Pakistani Taliban.

The explosion in a remote area bordering Afghanistan came as people gathered for Friday prayers near the women's entrance of a Shia mosque in the central bazaar, the latest in a series of attacks across Sunni-majority Pakistan this year.

The local political agent, Ikramullah Khan, said the death toll had reached 22, with 70 wounded.

Sajid Hussain, a parliamentarian from Parachinar, said gunfire preceded the blast, which he described as a suicide attack. The city is located in an area with a large Shia population.

"The attack took place in a busy area and a women's mosque appears to be the target," he said. </s> Those killed were members of the outlawed group Jamaatul Mujahedeen Bangladesh (JMB), said Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan. Authorities have blamed the group for a recent spate of attacks in Dhaka and elsewhere in the country.

Different units of the Bangladesh police force raided three houses, two in the Gazipur district close to Dhaka and one in the Tangail district, about 60 miles from the capital.

Nine suspected militants were killed in Gazipur and two in Tangail, said Khan. All were killed in gunfights with police after refusing to surrender, he added.

Police recovered firearms and ammunition from the scenes, Khan said.

Authorities did not disclose the identities of the suspects killed, but Khan said one in Gazipur was a commander of JMB's Dhaka unit. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said Saturday that her administration is determined to put an end to militancy and terrorism. "We'll not allow any act of terror in the name of religion," she said while visiting Dhaka's minority Hindu community on Saturday. In recent years, a number of Bengalis belonging to religious minority groups -- including Hindus, Buddhists, Christians and Shia Muslims -- have been killed in attacks by JMB and Ansar al-Islam, another militant group. JMB is a Sunni Muslim extremist group that has pledged its allegiance to ISIS. It aims to transform Bangladesh into an Islamic state based on sharia law. Minister Khan also said at a press conference on Saturday that police are closing in on one of the masterminds of the recent attacks, sacked army Maj. Syed Mohammad Ziaul Hoque. "Major Zia is now under close watch and he may be arrested anytime," Khan said, using a nickname for the major used by intelligence officials. Hoque went into hiding in 2011 after the military accused him of participating in a failed coup. He is believed to be working with Ansar al-Islam. </s> At least two civilians and one policeman killed during the operation at a residential building in Sylhet city.

At least two civilians and one policeman have been killed by explosions during an anti-terror operation in northeast Bangladesh.

The country's Daily Star newspaper reported on Saturday that two civilians were killed and another 26 injured when a blast ripped through the Shibbari area of Sylhet city as paramilitary commandos and SWAT carried out a raid on a suspected 'extremist' hideout.

A second blast infront of the hideout killed a policeman and left five others injured, it added.

Armed forces spokesman Colonel Rashidul Hasan told the AFP news agency that 78 people, who were trapped in the five-storey building, had been rescued after a more than 30-hour standoff.

Acting on a tip-off, police said they raided the building early on Friday and cordoned off the area after the attackers detonated small bombs.

"The operation began at 7:00am (01:00 GMT) in the morning and is still going on," Hasan said, adding the commandos "exchanged fire" with the attackers who were confined to a ground-floor apartment of the building.

The spokesman did not say how many people were in the building, but police said there were at least two, including a woman.

WATCH Does Bangladesh have an ISIL problem?

The raid comes after a series of suicide attacks this month including one at a police check-point near the country's main international airport on Friday night.

Two of the attacks, including Friday's blast in which the suicide attacker was killed, were claimed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group.

ISIL has also claimed responsibility for a wave of killings since 2015 including a major attack on a Dhaka cafe last year in which 22 people, including 18 foreign hostages, were killed.

The Bangladeshi government denies ISIL has any presence in the country, arguing instead that a new faction of Jamayetul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) was behind that and other attacks.
In Madarganj Upazila, Jamalpur, Bangladesh, a group of between 70 and 80 people from one faith of mosque attack an inauguration ceremony for another faith of mosque, resulting in at least 20 injured.