3 held for plotting to attack US embassy in Dhaka
Dhaka: Three suspected operatives of
Pakistan-based terror outfit LeT and HuJI, planning to attack
the US embassy and other American targets here have been
arrested in south eastern Bangladesh, police said.
The suspects -- two Lashkar-e-Taiba operatives and a HuJI
activist -- were arrested from the port city of Chittagong on
intelligence inputs given on information provided by two
suspected militants arrested in the US, a spokesman for
detective branch of police said.
David Coleman Headley, an American national and Tahawwur
Hussain Rana, a Canadian citizen of Pakistani descent were
arrested by FBI on charges of attempting to attack
establishments in different countries including a newspaper
office in Denmark.
"We have some evidence that they (three suspects) planned
to attack the US embassy and as part of the preparatory works
they visited its location at Baridhara area to chalk up the
detail plan," the official told.
Police will seek further remand of the suspected
militants to quiz them on the plot. The two were identified as
Shahidul Islam, 26, and Al Amin alias Saiful, both LeT men.
The third, 33-year old Mufty Harun Izhar, was stated to
be a Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HuJI). He is the son of Mufty
Azhar, chief of the right-wing Islami Oikya Jote party, a
partner of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).
Bureau Report