At least one people has been killed and about hundred wounded when three homemade bomb explosions in the midst of a gathering of Shia Muslims in front of Old Dhaka’s Hussaini Dalan.

Most of the victims were men, but some of them women. Their injuries were said to be minor and their condition stable.

The blasts happened around 1:30am when members of Shia community were gathering at the building, about half an hour before the traditional Tajia procession was to be brought out from there to mark the holy Ashura.

RAB Additional Director General Ziaul Ahsan said these were hand-made bombs hurled at the gathering.

Chawk Bazar Police Station Sub-Inspector Jahangir Hossain said two suspects were arrested at the scene of the blasts.

The deceased, aged between 10 and 12 years, was identified as, ‘Sanju’, a police official told reporters at Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) on condition of anonymity.

DMCH police camp's Sub Inspector Mozammel Haque said at least 44 people wounded in the blasts were hospitalised.

Mitford Hospital’s emergency ward doctor Masudur Rahman said that 31 injured people came to the hospital and more were still coming in. He said none of them was in critical condition.

Imran Hossain, a witness and also a leader of the Shia community, said the blasts injured more than hundred people, who were taken to Dhaka Medical College and Mitford Hospital. Several of the injured were in a critical condition.

He said the blasts occurred around 01:30am when police and other law-enforcing agencies strengthened security in Dhaka for Durga Puja that ended on Thursday and for Ashura, he added.

“Police and RAB personnel checked the venue at the Hussaini Dalan before the procession. Then the explosions took place,” he said.He also said police took away two to three bomb-like objects from the Hussaini Dalan premises.A supervisor of the Huseni Dalan said, "We've been observing this occasion here for ages. But we've never seen any incident like this. We demand a quick and fair investigation into the blasts."

During the first 10 days of Muharram, Huseni Dalan becomes a centre of mourning and religious gathering in old Dhaka. Shia followers end the festival by bringing out a large procession that parades through the city streets.

QH