Photo courtesy BBC

Militants have attacked police guarding the largest Eid gathering in Bangladesh, throwing homemade bombs and launching a gun attack.

More than 250,000 people had gathered for Eid prayers at the Sholakia field in Kishoreganj district when the attack on a security checkpoint began.

Police say four people, including two officers and one attacker, were killed.

Last week, militants stormed the Holey Artisan Bakery cafe in Dhaka, killing at least 20, most of them foreigners.

That attack was claimed by so-called Islamic State, although the government said the attackers belonged to a local militant group.

No group has said it carried out Thursday’s attack.

Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu described it as a “terrorist strike… against the normal practices of Islam”.

The attackers were “out to create a destabilisation process to oust” the government, he added.

(BBC)