Bangladesh

Bangladesh blacklists 12 militant outfits

Bangladesh blacklists 12 militant outfitsDhaka  - Authorities in Bangladesh have asked intelligence agencies to closely monitor activities of 12 suspected militant outfits running so-called Islamic activities in the predominately Muslim South Asian country, media reports said Saturday.

"The government has kept watchful eyes on the activities of the 12 organizations listed as terrorist outfits by the immediate-past interim administration," State Minister for Home Affairs Tanjim Ahmed Sohel Taj told a private television channel.

Bangladesh's port resumes activities three days after accident

 Bangladesh's port resumes activities three days after accident Dhaka - Activities at Bangladesh's prime Chittagong port resumed Friday after the authorities dredged up the Karnaphuli channel blocked by a vessel that sank on Tuesday, officials said.

"Movements of ships between the port and the outer anchorage resumed in the morning after the channel was deepened and widened through dredging," an official at the Chittagong Port Authority said.

Bangladesh government announces anti-terrorism committee

Bangladesh government announces anti-terrorism committee Dhaka  - Bangladesh is to form a high-level anti-terrorism committee to both tackle the threat of attacks and educate the public about possible dangers, the government announced on Wednesday.

The body - to be headed by Home Affairs Minister Tanjim Ahmed Sohel Taj - will also attempt to counter propaganda from radical Islamist groups, and boost intelligence operations and surveillance.

Bangladesh's Awami League-led coalition government pin-pointed poverty and ignorance as key breeding grounds for Islamist militants in the mainly Muslim country.

Ship movements at Bangladesh port suspended after accident

Chittagong Port Authority (CPA)Dhaka  - Movements of ships at Bangladesh's prime Chittagong sea port were suspended Wednesday after a lighter vessel sunk in the Karnaphuli channel late Tuesday night, officials said.

More than 40 ships remained stranded at the outer anchorage while five others remained stuck at the port after the clinker-laden vessel, caught up in a stormy weather, capsized in the channel.

"We have made preparations to remove the vessel from the channel, but the rescue operation is yet to begin," Fariduddin Ahmed, the secretary of the Chittagong Port Authority (CPA), said.

Wild elephants kill three in Bangladesh

Wild elephants kill three in Bangladesh Dhaka - Wild elephants trampled to death three people, including two children, in far south-eastern Bangladesh as they were collecting firewood, media reports said Wednesday.

They were trampled Tuesday at Teknaf hill near the Bangladesh-Myanmar border, 374 kilometres south-east of the capital, Dhaka.

Two of the victims died on the spot when the elephants crushed them after knocking down while the third victim succumbed to her injuries at a nearby health complex, said Yunus Sheikh, a vice chairman of the Teknaf subdistrict.

Bangladesh to rehabilitate those lured into militancy

Bangladesh to rehabilitate those lured into militancyDhaka - Bangladesh's Awami League-led alliance government is to set up programmes to rehabilitate "innocent people" who get involved in militancy due to poverty, a junior minister said Tuesday.

"Many poor innocent people have been recruited by the militant outfits operating in the name of Islamist movements. They are simply lured and misguided by the terrorists," Tamjim Ahmed Sohel Taj, state minister for home affairs, told a group of journalists.

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