Six injured in bomb attack on a Hindu gathering in Bangladesh

Dhaka: At least six people were injured, with three in a critical condition, after a series of bomb blasts on Saturday at a Hindu religious gathering in northern Bangladesh, a police official said.

The attack follows the shooting and wounding of an Italian doctor working in the same region last month, and the earlier murders of an Italian and a Japanese citizen in separate attacks claimed by Islamic State. 

The latest incident occurred in Dinajpur district, 415 km (260 miles) north of the capital Dhaka when a series of bombs exploded as hundreds of devotees attended a religious ceremony known as "Rushmela", Abdul Mazid, the officer in-charge of Kahalur police station, told Reuters.

The attack came after recent threats to the temple`s priest, urging him not to organise any religious gatherings, Mazid said.

Five people had been detained for interrogation, he said.

Bomb attacks on Hindu religious gatherings are rare in Muslim-majority Bangladesh.

The country has suffered a rising tide of Islamist violence over the past year. Four online critics of religious militancy have been hacked to death, among them a U.S. citizen of Bangladesh origin.