15 injured in Bangladesh assassination attempt

Unidentified attackers hurled a bomb at a ruling party politician in the Bangladesh capital Dhaka, wounding at least 15 people, police said.

Fazle Noor Taposh, a politician from the ruling Awami League party, escaped unhurt when attackers threw the explosive as he got into his car late yesterday outside his office in Dhaka's central Motijheel district, local police official Khandakar Mahiuddin said.

At least 15 party activists, who were there to see him off, were injured. One was in critical condition, hospital doctors said.

The car was slightly damaged by the blast.

Police said they were investigating the motive of the attack.

Bangladesh, an impoverished nation of 150 million people, has a history of political violence. Attacks on political rivals are common.

Mr Taposh is the son of murdered politician Sheikh Fazlul Haq Moni, who was gunned down in a 1975 military coup in which the country's founding father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was also killed.