AMN / DHAKA
Bangladesh’s Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) today dismissed a media report about a failed attempt on the life of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, terming it completely “baseless and motivated”.
“Some media outlets on September 23 published and broadcast a report about a failed attempt on the life of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina using a source of a foreign TV channel and an international online news agency,” a press release from PMO Press Wing said today.
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.
“This is to inform all that the news of the attack on the honourable prime minister on August 24, 2017 is completely baseless, misleading and motivated. 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 press release added.
The PMO also earnestly requested all concerned to run judicious media activities by maintaining caution before publishing such “baseless and confusing” news.
Earlier according to a report in News 18, an attempt on Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s life, inspired by the way Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her own bodyguards, was foiled four weeks ago by her loyalists and top counter-terrorism officers in Dhaka.
Reports said that intercepts suggested that six to seven personnel of the Special Security Force (SSF), which guards the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, were preparing to attack Hasina on August 24. Their plan was to attack her as soon as she would step out of her office for an evening stroll.
Four independent sources, including two in Dhaka and two in the external intelligence apparatus of India dealing with Bangladesh, confirmed the development.
The plan was foiled after a joint team of Indian and Bangladeshi intelligence officers intercepted the communication between JMB militants and the rogue SSF guards.
As soon as the conversation around the conspiracy was intercepted, PM Hasina was advised to stay put at a location outside her office in Dhaka, where she had gone for a personal meeting. Following this, her loyal guards formed an inner ring around her. The rogue men were nabbed right after this, paving the way for Hasina to return safely to her office.
