Bangla govt dismisses reports about plot to kill Hasina

Dhaka: The Bangladesh government today dismissed as “baseless” media reports that some of the bodyguards of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina were plotting to assassinate her last month. “This is to inform all that the report of the attack on the honourable Prime Minister (Sheikh Hasina) on August 24, 2017 is completely baseless, misleading and motivated, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said in a statement.

It said “some media outlets on September 23 published and broadcast a report about a failed attempt on the life of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina using as the source a foreign TV channel and an international online news agency”. It said a number of TV channels also aired the news and held talk shows on the “so-called” failed attack on the premier by involving some members of a special force.

“It is not expected at all from any responsible person or conscious media to publish or broadcast such a confusing report which goes against the overall interest of the country’s security,” the statement read. According to the reports the foiled attack was plotted by rogue members of the Special Security Force or SSF in coordination with banned terrorist outfit Jama’tul Mujahideen Bangladesh or JMB, bdnews24 reported.

The reports said six to seven SSF personnel were preparing to attack Hasina on August 24. The reports said JMB members were supposed to trigger explosions around the office to create a diversion and provide an escape route for the assassins. Hasina is now in the US, where she had gone to attend the 72nd UN General Assembly.

Hasina was targeted by an Islamist extremist group in 2004. Islamist militants allegedly backed by a quarters of the then ruling BNP of ex-premier Khaleda Zia hurled grenades in a political rally of the then opposition of her Awami League. Hasina narrowly escaped the attempt sustaining permanent hearing impairment but 24 people including Awami League’s women front chief and former Bangladesh president Zillur Rahman s wife Ivy Rahman were killed.