A woman mourns while sitting next to a grave as members of Bangladesh’s Christian community observe All Souls Day. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
DHAKA (AFP): Fear has gripped Bangladesh's tiny Christian minority after three crude bomb attacks on churches and a Catholic school, which police on Sunday said caused no injuries but were "certainly" designed to sow terror.
No group has claimed responsibility for the incidents or explained why the Christian community, which numbers around 500,000 people of the South Asian nation's 170 million citizens, was targeted.
"We are trying to determine whether the incidents are connected or isolated -- they are certainly aimed at terrifying people," Dhaka police spokesman Muhammad Talebur Rahman told AFP.
Bangladesh has been in political turmoil since a deadly uprising toppled the autocratic government of Sheikh Hasina more than a year ago.
The recent attacks on Christian sites add to tensions as parties gear up for elections slated for February 2026.
A churchgoer said on Sunday there was an "eerie feeling" within the community.
"Anxiety grips many of us while going to church," the 25-year-old university graduate said, asking not to be named.
The first attack took place on October 8, when a crude bomb was hurled at the capital's oldest church, the Holy Rosary Catholic Church, established by the Portuguese in the 17th century.
Then, overnight Friday, attackers targeted two more Catholic sites -- St Mary's Cathedral and St Joseph's School and College.
Nirmal Rozario, president of the Bangladesh Christian Association, said that the crude bomb exploded in front of St Mary's Cathedral, but that around 500 people came the next day to worship.
Rahman said attackers targeting the cathedral zoomed up on a motorbike, and "threw a crude bomb inside the school campus and fled".
Brother Chandan Benedict Gomes, school principal at St Jospeh's, said that the attack had caused "anxiety" but that "classes were held as usual."
Interim leader Muhammad Yunus, the 85-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner serving as chief adviser, has repeatedly promised that the first elections since the uprising will be held in February as planned, despite violent incidents.
On November 5 major parties opened their campaigns, which turned violent almost immediately, with a shooting at a rally for the powerful Bangladesh National Party.
Bangladesh police this month also offered cash rewards for the surrender of more than 1,300 machine guns, rifles and pistols looted during last year's uprising. - AFP
