Dhaka - Bangladesh suspended an annual festival at a Muslim saint's tomb on Tuesday after a bomb killed three devotees and wounded about 50.
Police said two people died instantly when the bomb exploded on Monday night as thousands of disciples sang and prayed at the tomb of Hazrat Shah Jalal. A third victim died later in hospital.
Police and officials said the blast at the 650-year-old tomb in Sylhet town, 300km from the capital Dhaka, was the first act of violence in the pilgrimage spot, and spread panic among the town's two million residents.
Tomb officials said around 50 000 devotees from across the country attended the annual three-day festival, called Urs Sharif, which began on Sunday.
Final prayers, due to be held on Tuesday, were suspended after most of the devotees fled after the blast. Army and paramilitary soldiers moved in quickly and cordoned the tomb off, officials and witnesses said.
"The entire town is in a state of shock," said Shahadat Hossain, a school teacher in Sylhet, which lies in the centre of a vast tea growing region. "We never imagined such things can happen here. This is a holy place."
Police said they still had no clues as to who might have planted the bomb, but detained 24 people for interrogation.
Doctors said the death toll could rise as many of the wounded were in critical condition.
"We are treating 32 people, including 10 with serious injuries," said Shamsuddin Ahmed Khan, a doctor at Sylhet Medical College Hospital.
Several unexplained bomb blasts in Bangladesh over the last few years have killed dozens of people.
Seventeen people were killed when bombs ripped through two cinemas in Bangladesh's northern Mymensingh town in December 2002. Nine people died in a series of blasts at an open air concert in Dhaka in April 2001.
Investigations into both of the incidents were inconclusive.