NEW DELHI: A group of suspected radical hurled homemade bombs and engaged in a gun battle with police guarding Eid prayers Thursday morning in Bangladesh. One officer and one suspected militant were killed, while several others were injured, officials said.

At least one of the bombs exploded during the prayer meeting, where hundreds of thousands of people had gathered in the district of Kishoreganj, about 90 kilometers (60 miles) north of the capital of Dhaka, for the Muslim holiday of Eid-al-Fitr, marking the end of Ramadan.

After the blast erupted, police fired on the attackers and killed one of them, assistant police superintendent Tofazzal Hossain said.

The country's information minister said the target of the attack had been the police convoy patrolling the religious gathering.

"Up to nine police constables have been injured in the attack," Minister Hasanul Haq Inu told Indian broadcaster CNN-News 18.

The violence comes just days after the country suffered a deadly hostage crisis in which 28 were killed, including 20 hostages, two policemen and six of the attackers.