Bombs in two Bangladesh cities kill eight
(AP)
Updated: 2005-11-29 18:46

Eight people were killed and 65 wounded by suspected suicide bombings in two Bangladesh cities on Tuesday, apparently the latest in a wave of attacks by militants fighting to turn the country into a sharia-based Islamic state.

Police said three people, including two of their colleagues, were killed and 15 wounded by blasts at a checkpoint outside a court building in the port city of Chittagong. They said the third person who died was believed to be the bomber.

Another blast, in a court complex in Gazipur -- 30 km (20 miles) north of the capital, Dhaka -- killed five people and wounded nearly 50, police said. Local hospital sources said the wounded included lawyers.

Lawyers said the militants were apparently trying to scare legal professionals before courts began trials of hundreds of detained Islamists for suspected involvement in recent blasts.

"The bombers apparently turned more violent as we set up checkposts trying to reinforce security at court premises," said Majedul Huq, police commissioner in Chittagong.

He said the blasts were probably the work of suicide bombers, who had explosives strapped to their bodies or hidden in bags.

Bangladesh has been hit this year by a wave of bombings blamed on militants demanding Islamic law in the mainly Muslim democracy.

In an immediate protest, hundreds of lawyers took to the streets of Dhaka, Chittagong and other cities, calling for government action to prevent further attacks.

They boycotted courts all over the country on Tuesday.

Witnesses in Chittagong said the blasts tore flesh and limbs from the victims and sent body parts flying into trees.

At least 30 badly wounded people have been rushed to the Dhaka Medical College Hospital from Gazipur, doctors said.

"The government is fully determined to crush the militants at all costs and restore peace in the country," said Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan, a senior minister in charge of the home ministry.

The Islamists killed two judges in the coastal town of Jhalakathi on November 18 and threatened to kill more, including Supreme Court judges.

Bombs exploded in three district courts outside Dhaka last month, killing two people and wounding more than a dozen, while 500 small bombs went off across the country on August 17, killing two people and wounding about 100.

Bangladeshi police have acknowledged since those attacks the presence of home-grown potential suicide bombers.

They say a 2,000-strong "suicide squad" has been formed from members of Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen and two other banned groups, Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh and Harkatul Jihad.

Bangladesh is the world's third-most-populous Muslim country after Indonesia and Pakistan.