Five people killed, 20 injured in Bangladeshi blast

Five people were killed and 20 others injured Thursday in a suicide bombing in the central Bangladeshi town of Netrokona, officials said.The dead included two police officers, two civilians and the bomber, Dhaka police said.The blast occurred in front of Udichi, a cultural organization, between 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. (0400-0500 GMT).

Netrokona is located northeast of the capital, Dhaka.Last week, three blasts in two towns killed 14 people. An explosion killed at least one person and injured 10 others at a police checkpoint in Gazipur, near a group of attorneys protesting an earlier suicide bombing. That blast, at the Gazipur court library, and another in the port city of Chittagong killed at least 13 people and wounded scores of others. Police said last week they had detained a total of 97 people in connection with the explosions.Authorities believe all the incidents, including Thursday's, are linked to the banned Islamic militant group Jamaatul Mujahedin Bangladesh, a group, police say, has a suicide squad of 2,000 members.

JMB is dedicated to establishing Islamic rule in Bangladesh, promising to attack court officials and buildings, administrative targets, cultural organizations, non-governmental organizations and what it calls liberal democratic political organizations.Police have launched a manhunt for the JMB's top leaders: Siddiqul Islam, also known as Bangla Bhai, and Sheik Abdurrahman, reports CNN. I.L.