Last week’s Bangladesh terror attack, in which 20 foreign nationals and two police officers were killed by six terrorists in the Gulshan area of national capital Dhaka, seems to have both united and divided internationally-acclaimed actor Irrfan Khan and equally internationally-acclaimed author Taslima Nasreen.They are united in their condemnation of the attack, which has been claimed by the Islamic State group, also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (Isis) or the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil). However, while Irrfan has said Islam is a religion that has its roots in peace, mercy and caring for others, Taslima has said she has seen otherwise.

In a heartfelt Facebook post, Irrfan said the news of the Bangladesh attack has left a “horrific silence” within him. He wrote: “Quran ki aayeten naa janne ki wajeh se ramzaan ke mahine mein logon ko qatal ker diya gaya. Haadsa ek jagah hota hai , badnaam Islaam aur poori duniya ka musalman hota hai. Woh Islaam jiski buniyaad hi aman, reham aur dusro ka dard mehsoos kerna hai [sic].” Rough translation: “They killed people because they did not know the verses of the Quran. The tragedy happens at one place, but Islam and Muslims are given a bad name worldwide. That very Islam whose roots are in peace, mercy and empathising with others.”

The “Madaari” actor went on to add: “Aise me kya musalman chup baitha rahe aur mazhab ko badnaam hone de? ya wo khud Islaam ke sahi mayne(meaning) ko smajhe aur doosron ko bataye, ki zulm aur qatlo gharat(massacre) karna Islaam nehi hai. [sic]”Meaning: “Should Muslims sit quietly and let the religion’s reputation be tarnished? Or should they imbibe the true meaning of Islam and tell others that cruelty and massacres are not Islam?”On the other hand, controversial author Taslima Nasreen, in a blog post for Economic Times, pointed out how it was religion that was fuelling the terrorists in the Bangladesh attack. Nasreen, who has been issued a death threat by Isis, which is known in the Middle East by its Arabic acronym Daesh, wrote: “I was worried for my life for a while. But then, my concerns turned to the lives of the hostages at the Holey Artisan Bakery.”

Speaking about the perpetrators of the attack, the author said: “Those terrorists have nothing but religion. They behaved well with hostages in hijab and hacked non-hijabis — including two Bangladeshi Muslim women, Ishrat Akhand and Abinta Kabir — to death.”She went on to add: “Young men have been brainwashed with Islam at home, madrasas and mosques. They have been fed the belief that non-believers, non-Muslims and critics of Islam should be exterminated.”

However, her hardest-hitting words came later in the post, when she said: “People like to believe that Islam is a religion of peace. I, however, have witnessed the opposite since my childhood.The time has come for people to tell the truth and listen to it without equivocating: Islam and Islamic fundamentalism don’t have so many differences. Islam isn’t compatible with democracy, human rights, women’s rights, freedom of expression.”

Saudi Arabia’s crown prince and anti-terror tsar sought on Tuesday to reassure Saudis of the country’s security after suicide attacks targeting the holy city of Medina, the U.S. consulate in Jeddah and Shias in the city of Qatif.At least four people were killed in the attacks on Monday. No group has claimed responsibility but Islamic State has carried out a number of similar bombings in the kingdom in the past year, targeting Shia Muslims and Saudi security forces.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef bin Abdul-Aziz, who is also the Saudi interior minister, visited two security officers and a citizen wounded in the bombing in Jeddah, the state news agency SPA reported on Monday evening.“The security of the homeland is good, it is at its highest levels and thanks be to God it gets stronger every day,” SPA quoted Prince Mohammed as saying during the visit.

The attacks have rattled Saudis who are preparing to celebrate Eid al-Fitr from Wednesday following the month-long Ramadan when they fast from dawn to dusk.Militant attacks on Medina, home to the Prophet’s Mosque and the second-holiest site in Islam, are unprecedented. The Al Saud ruling family considers itself the protectors of Islam’s holiest sites Medina and Mecca.

Prince Mohammed has been credited for successfully ending a bombing campaign by al-Qaeda in Saudi Arabia between 2003-2006.“I know that terrorist operations are not a simple thing, and the minor impacts that you feel now will go away, God willing,” Prince Mohammed said, according to SPA. “I had been through this in the past and feel what you feel,” he added, referring to a suicide bombing he had survived in his office in 2009.

Saudi security officials say the group’s supporters inside the kingdom mainly act independently, depending on Islamic State based in Iraq and Syria for only limited logistical help and advice, making them harder to detect, but also less capable of mounting attacks on well-protected targets.

Iraqis on Monday mourned more than 200 people killed in a Baghdad suicide bombing claimed by the Islamic State (IS) group and accused the government of not doing enough to protect them.The search continued for bodies at the site of the attack, which ripped through the Karrada district early on Sunday as it teemed with shoppers ahead of this week’s holiday marking the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramzan.Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced efforts to address longstanding security flaws in Baghdad following the blast, which came a week after Iraqi forces recaptured the city of Fallujah from IS.But on the streets, Iraqis were angry at the government’s inability to keep residents safe, even as its forces push IS back outside the capital.

Three days of mourning

As Iraq marked three days of national mourning, security and medical officials told AFP the number of dead from the attack had risen to at least 213. More than 200 were wounded, they said.In Karrada, a young man lit a candle on a staircase leading to the basement of one charred building, adding to dozens of others left by mourners at the site of the bombing, which sparked infernos in nearby buildings.Down the stairs, young men dug through the ashes using shovels and their hands, searching for those still missing after the blast.

Mr. Abadi was met with an angry response when he visited the site of the attack on Sunday.But the Premier struck a conciliatory tone.“I understand the emotional feelings and actions that occurred in a moment of sadness and anger,” Mr. Abadi said in a statement.IS claimed the attack in a statement saying it was carried out by an Iraqi as part of “ongoing security operations”.With thousands of vehicles moving in and out of the city each day, such bombings are difficult to prevent.But there are also flaws in security measures in the city, especially the use of fake bomb detectors at checkpoints years after the man who sold them to Iraq was jailed for fraud in Britain.Mr. Abadi announced a series of security changes after Sunday’s bombing, including scrapping the fake detectors.

5 executed

Iraq executed five convicts on Monday, the justice ministry said, linking the timing of the executions to the Baghdad suicide bombing the previous day. The ministry said it wanted families bereaved in the bombing to know “that their brothers in the justice ministry are continuing to deliver just punishment to those whose hands are stained with the blood of Iraqis”.Jordan had responded in a similar way last year, executing two jihadist prisoners after IS had burned alive one of its pilots whose plane was downed over Syria.

Australia’s Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on Tuesday rejected opposition calls for his resignation.On Monday evening, opposition Labour Party Leader Bill Shorten called for Turnbull to quit as leader of the Liberal National Party coalition, claiming that the premier was “out of touch” and was unable to provide parliamentary “stability” which he promised to Australian voters throughout his campaign, Xinhua news agency reported.

But on Tuesday, Mr. Turnbull said he would not be stepping down from the position and described the Labour leader’s attack as purely political.“Well, he would say that, wouldn’t he?” Mr. Turnbull said of Mr. Shorten, “I’m sure he would (like me to resign).”“I don’t think we’ll be taking advice from the leader of the opposition, I think he couldn’t think of anything else better to say.”

The election’s vote count resumed early Tuesday with postal votes and pre-poll votes set to be tallied, two days after the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) said it could take weeks to get a decisive result from all seats.Mr. Turnbull said he was confident of a forming a majority government despite numerous election analysts suggesting Labour had, by Tuesday, secured more seats than the coalition.“The count is continuing and we remain confident that we will secure enough seats to have a majority in the parliament,” Mr. Turnbull told the press.

“All the votes have been cast and it’s now simply a matter to count them so we’re just awaiting that.”Meanwhile the nation’s Attorney General George Brandis has played down concerns that the deadlocked election was bad news for Australia or the coalition; he told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) that there’s “no such thing as a failed election”.He said there was nothing unusual about the deadlock, despite Mr. Trunbull facing a wall of conservative criticism, both from political commentators and from within the far-right factions of his party.

“An election always produces the parliament the people choose,” Mr. Brandis said.“Sometimes that’s a large majority, sometimes a narrow one, and sometimes the party that forms government relies on other elements of the parliament to govern, but there’s nothing unusual here.”Conservative factions of the coalition have already hinted at discontent within the party; the ABC reported that anonymous sources would have no issue ousting Mr. Turnbull at a partyroom meeting if he “sells out” the conservative principles of the party while brokering a deal with independent MPs.A decisive result to determine the government still might not be known for days, while the final results from tightly-contested seats may be in limbo for weeks.