DHAKA, Bangladesh, Nov. 28 (UPI) -- Bangladesh security forces are taking seriously a threat purportedly from al-Qaida against Western diplomats.
Bangladesh police sounded a fresh security alert as a militant claiming to be an al-Qaida activist threatened to bomb Western missions and embassies in the capital Dhaka, including that of the United States and Britain.
The militant identified himself as Manik Hossain and claimed to be a member of al-Qaida. He issued his threat to the British High Commission in Dhaka. Bangladesh is a former British colony.
"He threatened to blow up the mission and other Western missions, including the U.S. embassy," a senior Bangladeshi police officer said.
"We received a faxed message from the British High Commission on Sunday night with a request for a general diary entry following the threat to bomb it and other missions," the officer from Gulshan police station in Dhaka said according to an Indio-Asian News Agency report.
Al-Qaida militants are believed by Indian security authorities to have infiltrated Bangladesh, one of the poorest and most densely populated nations in Asia, after they fled U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan following the toppling of the Taliban government there in late 2001.
