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At least eight people were killed and over 100 wounded Thursday when bombs exploded near Udichi office in northeastern Netrokona town.
Police and witnesses said the explosions took place after a suspected member of the banned Islamic outfit Jama'atul Mujahideen, Bangladesh riding on a bicycle drove through a crowd in front of the cultural organisation's office.
News agencies, quoting police sources, said that three people died on the spot while five others succumbed to their injuries.
Two of the dead were identified as Udichi joint secretary Khwaja Haider, 38, and 28-year-old local motor mechanic Jadab.
Nine policemen were among those injured in the powerful bomb blasts. Five of the wounded cops were in "critical condition", police said.
Police suspected that one of the injured lying on a hospital bed in Netrokona might also be a member of suicide squad.
They recovered leaflets of the banned Islamic outfit, JMB, and splinters from the scene where two to three bombs exploded.
They said a suspected suicide bomber blew himself up in the crowd, who gathered in front of the Udichi office after hearing a news of a discovery of a bomb in a nearby kitchen market.
Police said fire brigade was called after a bomb was spotted at the site at about 9:0 am. The bomb, weighing about five ponds, was wrapped in a red scotch tape. It was about one foot in length and eight inches in width.
"As firefighters tried to defuse the device by pumping water, a huge blast suddenly rocked the area at 9:40am," says one of the eyewitnesses.
It was followed by a second explosion nearby when the Deputy Commissioner and the District Police Superintendent were inspecting the scene of the first blast. The DC and the SP escaped unhurt, but nine policemen were injured.
This was the second deadliest bomb attack after about 13 people were killed in a series of such incidents in Gazipur, near Dhaka, and southern Chittagong port city on November 29.
Back in 1999, a bomb attack on Udichi concert in Jessore killed 10 people and maimed several others.
News agencies and television channels Thursday also reported bomb explosions in Meherpur that killed one person and injured many.
The victim was identified as Mangal Chandra, a local goldsmith. Police later recovered five unexploded bombs from the scene.
No one claimed the responsibility and no immediate arrests were made after explosions at about 7:00 pm. But the bomb attack came a day after RAB camp at Gangni was withdrawn.
A report said three street urchins, one of them a girl, were critically injured in a bomb explosion in northern Nilphamari on Thursday.
Police said a homemade bomb went off when the three -- Raihan Hossain Moon, 5, Rezaul Islam, 7 and Laboni, 8, -- were playing with such eight devices assuming them as toys.
Sources said police were trying to defuse the rest of the bombs.
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