At least five students were injured when a cocktail bomb exploded at a women’s madrasah in Madaripur’s Kalkini on Saturday morning.

One of the injured students was in critical condition and was sent to Dhaka for advanced treatment, according to local authorities.

The incident occurred at around 9:30am at Gopalpur Darussunnah Women’s Madrasa in the Gopalpur area of Kalkini municipality.

The injured students were identified as Abida Akter, 11, daughter of Selim Talukder of Minajdi area; Jannat, 12, daughter of Chhiratul Talukder of West Minajdi; Tasmia Akter, 11, daughter of Rubel Matubbar of Gopalpur; and Minha, 11, and Sultana, 11, both daughters of Sardar of the same area.

According to police and local residents, students had arrived at the madrasa as usual on Saturday morning. A cocktail exploded as they entered the premises, leaving at least five students injured.

The injured were rescued and taken to the 250-bed Madaripur District Hospital for treatment. Police visited the scene after being informed of the incident.

Madrasah Muhtamim Hafizur Rahman said the sudden explosion had caused panic among the teachers and students.

“We are shocked by the sudden bomb explosion at the madrasah. We do not understand how it happened,” he said.

Kalkini Police Station Officer-in-Charge Zahirul Alam said police, the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and other officials had begun investigating the incident.

Farida Rafiq Bhavna, Additional Superintendent of Police for Crime and the Madaripur Sadar-Kalkini circle, said the explosive had detonated after apparently being left unattended on the madrasah premises.