Kishoreganj: Inspector General of Police (IGP) AKM Shahidul Hoque on Saturday said the members of the banned militant outfit Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) attacked both Gulshan café and police check-post near Sholakia Eidgah in Kishoreganj.

‘The same militant outfit is behind the Gulshan and Sholakia attacks. The outlawed JMB has carried out the two attacks,’ he said.

The police chief came up with the remarks while talking to reporters during his visit to the spot where a terror attack took place near the Sholakia Eidgah on the Eid day.

He said the militant’s main target was to kill Muslim worshipers at the country’s largest Eid congregation at Sholakia Eidgah.

‘We’ve came to know through interrogating one of the arrested attackers that they all were the JMB members. They had been here to kill Muslim worshippers at the Eidgah with bomb attacks. They’ve attacked police as they could not enter the venue due to the check-post,’ the IGP said.

He also said the arrested attacker admitted that they had also link to the Gulshan incident.

As his attention his was drawn to militant outfit IS’ claim to have involvement in recent incidents, the IGP said they are not getting any link as to how and why the international militant organisation is doing that. ‘But, IS has no link to the Sholakia attack.’

At least four people, including two policemen, were killed and 12 others injured in a bomb attack coupled with an exchange of gunfire after terrorists attacked a temporary police check-post near Sholakia Eidgah in Kishoreganj Sadar upazila on Thursday morning.

Last week, terrorists attacked Holey Artisan Bakery in Gulshan and killed at least 22 civilians, including 17 foreigners, three Bangladeshis, and two senior police official before security forces stormed the building and ended a 12-hour standoff.

Asked whether the police had any prior information about the eidgah attack, he replied in the negative.

He, however, said they had intensified security all over the country fearing that the militants may carry out any big attack at any place and time.

Shahidul Hoque said around 1,000 police members had been deployed in and around Sholakia Eidgah alongside patrol by the members of Rab and APBN to ensure the smooth holding of the Eid-ul-Fitr congregation.