NEW DELHI—An ISIS group affiliate in Bangladesh said Friday it was behind an attack on a Shiite mosque in the country’s north that killed one man and wounded three others.
A statement posted on ISIS-affiliated Twitter accounts from ISIS - Bangladesh said that the mosque was hit by a barrage of shots fired from machine guns.
At least five assailants fired on worshippers during evening prayers Thursday at the mosque in Haripur village in the Bogra district. A mosque official in his 70s who had been leading the prayers was killed.
Police on Friday detained two suspects for questioning, said local police official Arifur Rahman.
He said the men were picked up from the area of the attack. Details of their identities were not clear immediately.
The statement from the ISIS offshoot said “the soldiers of the caliphate targeted a place of worship for the apostates” built with funds from Iran. It vowed more such attacks.
Thursday’s attack follows a wave of deadly assaults this year on foreigners, secular writers and the Shiite community in the Sunni-majority nation of 160 million.
The attacks have alarmed the international community and raised concerns that religious extremism is growing in the traditionally moderate South Asian nation.
Bangladesh’s government has repeatedly denied the presence of the ISIS group in the impoverished nation.
