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At least two were killed and 150 injured Wednesday in a series of simultaneous bomb blasts in 63 out of 64 districts in Bangladesh.
Rickshaw puller Rabiul Alam, 40, injured in the bomb blast in front of Shah Neamutallah College in north-western Chapainawabganj region at about 11:10 AM and died on the way to hospital, Bangladesh private news agency UNB reported.
A 10-year-old boy also died when he picked one of the devices at Savar in central Bangladesh, said local police.
Local private television channel NTV said 350 bombs of time devises were exploded simultaneously. Many unexploded bombs were recovered by security forces.
According to Bangladesh official news agency BSS, security has been beefed up across Bangladesh with the government ordering law enforcement officials to be on the street.
State Minister for Home Affairs Lutfuzzaman Babar said the countrywide blasts were carried out in an organized way.
"It was not an scattered incident. Generally, such an attack has a motive," he told reporters after an emergency meeting of top officials of security and intelligence agencies at his office.
The government, he said, thinks the incidents were staged to create panic in public mind and instability in the country in a planned manner but "we have ordered a security beef up at all districts including Dhaka."
The state minister, however, urged people to help police and intelligence agencies unearth the incident with any available tips or inform police about any suspicious activity or anyone, saying security and law enforcement organizations were asked to mobilize all their efforts to uncover the attacks and find the culprits.
As part of the extra security measures, Babar said, check posts were being installed at every districts while "officers were asked to be on the street, which we don't usually do."
The blasts prompted the home ministry to convene an emergency conference of law enforcement agencies including police, Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) and other security and intelligence agencies.
Babar appeared before the press for the second time on the day.
Earlier in the morning, the state minister told reporters that the government had information that this attack might be carried out on Aug. 14, 15 or 16 "but it happened later than that."
The tension was high across Bangladesh after the bombings occurred between 10:45 and 11:30 in the morning.
In the capital, bomb exploded at the Zia International Airport, National Press Club, High Court, Farmgate, and on the campus of Dhaka University.
So far no organization has claimed responsibility for the bombing across the country, but another private television channel ATN Bangla showed a leaflet found with an arrested man of an Islamic group.
Babar said 23 persons suspected with the bombing have been arrested so far.
(Xinhua News Agency August 18, 2005)
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