Bomb attack in Bangladeshi town

A survivor is treated for his injuries

At least six people have been killed and more than 50 hurt in a suicide bomb attack in Bangladesh, officials say.

The blast took place in a busy street in the northern town of Netrakona, as police examined a suspicious package.

The attack, apparently carried out by two men on a bicycle, occurred outside the office of a secular cultural group.

Bangladesh has been hit by a series of bombs in recent months blamed on Islamic extremists. At least 12 people were killed last week.

It was a terrible sight. People were screaming in pain all around Eyewitness Shymolendu Pal

Police at the scene of Thursday's attack say two men rode up on a bicycle and dropped a package on the street.

One bomber died, the other was injured, police say.

Eyewitnesses say a big crowd had collected to watch the police examine the package thought to contain a bomb, when the explosion took place.

"It was a terrible sight. People were screaming in pain all around," the Associated Press quoted a local journalist, Shymolendu Pal, as saying.

The wounded were taken to nearby hospitals where the condition of some was said to be serious.

Growing violence

Last month, a powerful bomb exploded inside a library near a courthouse in Gazipur, leaving seven people dead and about 50 others injured - police described it as the country's first ever suicide bombing.

In a second attack on the same day, two policemen were killed in a bomb attack outside a courthouse in the port city of Chittagong.

Two days later one person died in another bomb attack in Gazipur.

The government blamed a banned militant group, Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen, for the explosions and a series of earlier attacks.

More than 400 people have been arrested but the BBC's Roland Buerk in Dhaka says the masterminds remain at large.

The Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen wants to establish Islamic law in Bangladesh.