The bomb attack on cops in the city’s Science Laboratory area on Saturday night might be a cautionary signal before launching any major attack in future, Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader said on Sunday. “Such bomb attack might be a test case of the militants. As part of launching big attack in the future, they carried out even small attacks on the cops,” he said.
The Minister made the statement while talking to reporters over the latest political situation at his secretariat office in the city. “There is no reason to dismiss that the militants here have become inactive or incapable. In the face of continued hunt by our law enforcers, they went into hiding. The militants, in fact, are silently preparing to launch even bigger attacks,” Quader said.
Referring to terrorist attacks the Minister said, “It is very difficult to predict what will happen when and where. Let us not forget that after the deadly attack in Holey Artisan in the capital and Sholakia Eidgah in Kishorganj, the militant organisations also launched attacks at different parts of the country,” he said.
However, Obaidul Quader, also ruling Awami League General Secretary, said, “LGRD Minister Tazul Islam was not the target of the criminals. The attackers’ motive was different.” “We have reliable information that LGRD minister was not the target. Our law enforcement agencies remain alert. Police have already started carrying out investigation on the attack. However, our intelligence could not detect and identify who were responsible for the attack,” he said.
Unidentified criminals launched bomb attack on cops who were on duty of protecting the team of LGRD Minister Tazul Islam. The attack left two of them injured. The criminals launched the attack while LGRD Minister Tazul Islam motorcade got stuck in a messy traffic jam. Meanwhile, terrorist outfit Islamic State (IS) has claimed the responsibility of Saturday night's bomb attack at Science Laboratory intersection, said the US-based SITE Intelligence Group on Sunday.
Replying to a query about IS claim over the attack, Obaidul Quader said that he cannot say anything about it, but it should be pondered over if some groups are trying to use the name of IS. “The militants are also engaged in spreading propaganda that the IS members are active in Bangladesh. But the members of intelligence and detective branches are very active,” he claimed.
