Dhaka, Dec. 5 (Agencies): Ten people were injured today after unidentified men hurled three crude bombs inside the premises of a temple in northern Bangladesh.

Over 5,000 people had gathered at the Kantaji temple to witness a show organised to mark the Rash Mela festival when the bombs exploded. Most of the injured suffered splinter injuries, the police said. They detained seven persons for questioning.

Six of the injured were rushed to the Dinajpur Medical College and Hospital, according to local media reports.

The temple is a government-maintained archaeological site. However, believers perform rituals at the temple and thousands, including Muslims, gather during the annual festival.

The attack follows the shooting and wounding of an Italian doctor working in the same region last month, and the earlier murders of an Italian and a Japanese citizen in separate attacks claimed by the Islamic State.

The temple, known for its brick and terracotta style of architecture, was built at Kantanagar not far from the bank of the Dhepa river by the rulers of Dinajpur, with construction commissioned by Maharaja Prannath in 1704 and completed during the reign of his adopted successor Maharaja Ramnath some decades later.

Authorities closed the annual festival after the attack. Security has been beefed up in the area, but the police are yet to identify those behind the attack.

The attack came after recent threats to the temple's priest, urging him not to organise any religious gatherings, Abdul Mazid, the officer in-charge of Kahalur police station, said.

The raids have alarmed the international community and raised concerns that religious extremism is growing in the traditionally moderate South Asian nation.