The Islamic State’s affiliate in Bangladesh claimed responsibility for an attack on a Shiite mosque that killed one person and injured three others.
The group proclaimed on one of its affiliated Twitter accounts that it successfully struck the Bangladesh mosque with machine gun rounds, firing upon the religious site in Haripur village in the Bogra district, the Associated Press reports.
After ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack on Friday, police detained two suspects, according to local police spokesman Arifur Rahman.
“The soldiers of the caliphate targeted a place of worship for the apostates,” the ISIS statement read.
Religious minorities and secular citizens remain under constant threat in Bangladesh, where critics of Islam are hunted down by death squads. Recently, an ISIS-linked gang published an “enemies of Islam” hit list, which consisted mostly of secular writers, academics, and publishers.
Bangladeshi authorities continue to deny the existence of an ISIS entity within their sovereign borders. Regardless of their claims, innocents continue to be slaughtered in the name of Islam.
Recently, Islamic radicals bombed an October rally in Dhaka, where thousands of Shiite Muslims had gathered. Bombs were thrown into the crowd, killing a teenage boy and wounding over one hundred others.
Within a week of the aforementioned attack, a secular publisher was hacked to death by Islamic militants in Dhaka, leading to massive protests in which ralliers called for an end to jihadis attacking people simply for expressing their beliefs.
On Friday, the Associated Press published a detailed report on the three major Islamic terror groups in Bangladesh.
The first, Jamaat-E-Islami, is the nation’s largest Islamist party. Its top officials have been accused of war crimes on several occasions, according to the report.
Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT), another radical group, has taken credit for the killings of secular bloggers and publishers. The group is officially banned in the country, but the designation has not stopped their aggression.
Jumatul Mujahedeen Bangladesh (JMB) is the third group featured in the report. They have a membership of 10,000+ and have been known to attempt large-scale terror plots. JMB demands that Shariah Law be imposed in the nation.
Due to the deteriorating security situation for non-Muslims, Australia has asked volunteers to pull back from working in Bangladesh, as the country continues to be bombarded by jihadi terror.
“The Australian Government has authorised the defendants of posted Australian staff to return to Australia on a voluntary basis, and will withdraw Australian Government funded volunteers by 31 December,” a statement published by the government on Friday said.
“We advise you (Australians) to exercise a high degree of caution in Bangladesh due to the high threat of terrorist attack and the uncertain political situation,” the statement added.