Three arrested for plotting to attack US embassy in Dhaka

Three suspected operatives of Pakistan-based terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba and Harkatul Jihad al Islami (Huji), planning to attack the US embassy and other American targets here have been arrested in south eastern Bangladesh, police said.

The suspects—two LeT 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 PTI.

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 Huji. He is the son of Mufty Azhar, chief of the right-wing Islami Oikya Jote party, a partner of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).

The Prothom Alo newspaper said quoting another detective branch source that one of the two arrested LeT operatives was an Indian national and another was a Pakistani though they claimed to be Bangladeshi nationals.

Bangladesh, in the past several months, has arrested three LeT operatives from different areas.

Yesterday's development came nearly two weeks after authorities ordered stepped up security for Indian envoy Pinak Ranjan Chakravarty and the Indian High Commission here after a reported security email threat.