Michael Kugelman of The Wilson Center, a Washington-based think tank, said the USA administration had not paid enough attention to the growing terror threats in Bangladesh, which is now impacting Americans. “They want to create internal strife”.
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The US secretary of State also showed his country’s eagerness to work closely with Bangladesh in other sectors like climate, health and energy. Police suspect Zia, a former army major whose full name is Syed Ziaul Haque, heads another local extremist group called Ansar al Islam, blamed for the machete murders of a dozen secular writers and two gay activists. One of them is suspected to have been the mastermind of the attack on the restaurant in Dhaka.
“They are connected to some degree with some of the operatives here and we made that very clear in our conversation”.
In July, a Bangladeshi cafe was attacked by terrorists, killing 22 people including an Indian girl.
Sources said Kerry told Hasina that U.S. believes that elements of IS are connected to terror operatives of Bangladesh, and praised the leadership of the premier in fighting terrorism and militancy in her country.
The US, he said, has already been working with Bangladeshi police, Madrassa (religious schools) students and conflict mitigation.
At least four people were killed, including two police officers and one of the attackers, after several explosions and gunfire took place at the entrance of the country’s largest Sholakia Eid prayer venue in Kishoreganj district, some 117 km northeast of Dhaka, on the morning of July 7.
Critics say Hasina’s administration has been in denial about the nature of the threat posed by armed groups and accuse her of trying to exploit the attacks to demonise her domestic opponents.
The disasters put pressure on the Bangladesh government and European and United States clothing brands to improve pay and conditions at the factories that supply them.
Thousands of opposition activists were arrested in a government crackdown past year following an opposition-led transport blockade that left scores dead in a failed bid to force Hasina to resign.
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After his brief stop in Bangladesh, Kerry traveled to India for the seventh meeting of the U.S. -India strategic dialogue, which seeks to improve security and well as economic and development ties between the nations.
