DHAKA — A coordinated wave of crude bomb explosions rocked the Bangladeshi capital on Sunday evening, November 8, beginning with eight to nine blasts at Dhaka University and the adjoining Nilkhet area between 6:15pm and 6:45pm local time, and continuing with attacks on the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) headquarters in Malibagh, Pallabi Police Station and a private car in Mirpur-1, The Business Standard (TBS) reported. Three people were detained in connection with the campus blasts, one member of the Special Response Battalion (SRB) was injured at Pallabi, and no deaths were reported.

Source: The Business Standard

The university blasts were reported at the Teacher-Student Centre (TSC), including beneath the metro rail station there, at the gate of the Senate Building, on roads in front of Bangladesh-Kuwait Maitree Hall and Fazlul Huq Muslim Hall, at Madhur Canteen, and in front of the Mukti O Gonotantra Toron at Nilkhet. Dhaka University Proctor Associate Professor Israfil Ratan confirmed the explosions and said they appeared to have been carried out in a coordinated manner.

Source: The Business Standard

Three detained after the campus blasts

Police detained three individuals in connection with the campus incidents, identified as Rezaul Karim, 42, from Natore; Sohel Rana, 33, from Rajshahi; and Nazmus Sad, 33, from Gopalganj, TBS reported. The university's proctorial team also detained a suspected person at TSC and handed him over to Shahbagh Police Station; Proctor Ratan said his identity could not immediately be established. Shahbagh Police Station Officer-in-Charge Moniruzzaman said one person had been detained in connection with the explosion beneath the metro rail station at TSC and was being questioned. Assistant Commissioner of Police (New Market Zone) Md Nasim A-Gulshan confirmed the explosion in front of the Mukti O Gonotantra Toron at Nilkhet.

Source: The Business Standard

Bombs then hit the CID headquarters and a police station

Later, around 7:30pm, crude bombs were detonated outside the CID headquarters in Malibagh and inside the premises of Pallabi Police Station in Mirpur. In Malibagh, a crude bomb thrown from the Malibagh flyover landed on a Special Branch (SB) vehicle inside the CID office premises and exploded; no one was injured, Paltan Police Station Officer-in-Charge Ariful Alam Arif told TBS. 'Miscreants threw a crude bomb from the Malibagh flyover. It landed on a Special Branch (SB) vehicle inside the CID office premises and exploded. Fortunately, no one was injured,' he said, adding: 'We are investigating who was behind the incident.'

Source: The Business Standard

At Pallabi, two unidentified people on a motorcycle threw a crude bomb into the police station premises from an overpass before fleeing, the station's Officer-in-Charge Jalal Uddin said. The explosion injured an SRB member, identified as Yiaar Uddin, who is posted at SRB-4. Additional Superintendent of Police KN Roy Niyoti, company commander of RAB-4, told TBS that a fragment from the exploded bomb struck the member's hand, causing a minor abrasion, and that the injury was not serious.

Source: The Business Standard

Car targeted in Mirpur-1

In a further incident, another crude bomb exploded on the bonnet of a private car in front of Sony Hall in Mirpur-1 at around 8:35pm. Mirpur Model Police Station Officer-in-Charge Hafizur Rahman told TBS a crude bomb had been thrown at the car and that he was heading to the scene; law enforcement sources said unidentified people on a motorcycle had hurled the device, and authorities were working to identify those involved.

Source: The Business Standard

What happens next: no group had claimed responsibility for the attacks in the reporting available on Sunday night, and the motive was not established. Police said investigations were under way at each site, and the university authorities were examining CCTV footage to assess the campus incidents, according to reports carried by UNB. The three detained men are suspects at this stage; the allegations against them have not been tested in court.

Source: Green Watch / UNB