'Al-Qaeda' bombs rock Bangladesh

Three simultaneous bomb blasts have rocked separate railway terminals in Bangladesh.

One man was hurt in the blasts, which triggered panic among commuters who evacuated railway terminals.

Militant slogans claiming to be from al-Qaeda have been found at two of the bomb sites. The thin metal sheets scribbled with slogans were found in Dhaka's Kamalapur and Sylhet terminals.

The third blast was in the railway terminal of the south-eastern city of Chittagong.

"If Hazrat (Prophet) Mohammad is not declared the superman of the world by May 10, all non-governmental organisations will be blown up," the slogans on the metal sheets read in Bengali. They were signed "the al-Qaeda network" in English.

"We are puzzled over the motives (of those who planted the bombs). But they dared to take the risk," said a police officer.

No one has been arrested, nor could police immediately confirm any al-Qaeda link to the 2005 blasts.

Police said Munir Hossain, a rickshaw-puller, was injured at the Chittagong terminal when he tried to open one of the sacks before it exploded.

The outlawed Islamist group, Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen, carried out a series of bomb blasts across Bangladesh on August 17, 2005, killing three people and injuring more than 100.

In further attacks through the rest of 2005 outlawed groups killed nearly 30 more people and wounded 150, including judges, lawyers, police and officials.

Six leaders from the two groups were executed on March 30 for their role in the blasts.

Intelligence groups last month alerted the government that Islamist militants were regrouping after the execution of the militant leaders and security has been tightened across the country.

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