I'm honestly a little confused
DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) -- More than 100 homemade bombs planted by suspected Islamic militants exploded nearly simultaneously across Bangladesh on Wednesday, killing two people, including a young boy, and wounding at least 125.
About 50 people were arrested, a state-run news agency reported. There was no claim of responsibility, but leaflets from a banned group seeking the imposition of Islamic law were found at many scenes.
Police said the bombs apparently were designed to cause limited damage. The blasts killed a bicycle rickshaw driver in the northern town of Chapainawabganj and a 10-year-old boy in the central town of Savar.
The explosions caused panic and massive traffic jams in a number of cities, as people fled for safety and rushed to schools to bring their children home.
Security was stepped up, with police deploying to major intersections to check vehicles and even frisking pedestrians for bombs.
At least 125 people were injured in more than 100 blasts, the state-run Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha reported.
This seems like significant, perhaps even major, news -- over 100 explosive devices in a coordinated attack involving at lesat 50 Islamic militants, 2 dead, scores wounded. As of 5:00pm EST on the 17th, this story is not a "top story" on: CNN.com, MSNBC.com, Washingtonpost.com, NYTimes.com (CNN.com, for the record, has top stories about Pierce Brosnan not playing James Bond anymore and researchers being rescued from polar bears). It is a top story, but not prominent, on Foxnews.com and BBC.com.
I am honestly perplexed by this. Am I missing something about the importance of this news? If over 100 small bombs went off in London, Paris, Los Angeles or, more aptly, New Delhi, would it have been so under-reported?
Yet I hesitate to jump to the standby conclusion of ethnocentricity; certainly we've seen the media cover terrorist attacks in non-Western countries, albiet with less fervor. That may be the most likely hypothesis, though. Perhaps this was a cascade effect where no outlet started carrying it prominently so none of them did, in a kind of groupthink marginalization of over 100 explosions? I'm really not sure: What do you all think?
-Elliot
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