The United Kingdom on Wednesday issued a travel advisory for its citizens where it directed them not to visit Bangladesh as terrorists were likely to carry out attacks in the South Asian nation.
In a statement, the British government said: Updated assessment that terrorists are likely to try to carry out attacks in Bangladesh.
The British government issued the advisory amid heightened atrocities faced by minority communities in the country following the arrest of Hindu priest Chinmoy Krishna Das over sedition charges.
The advisory said: There have been occasional attacks against minority religious communities and targeting police and security forces. These have included improvised explosive device (IED) attacks in major cities.
The Bangladeshi authorities continue to work to disrupt planned attacks. Increases in security force presence and restrictions on movement may be put in place at short notice, the statement said.
Apart from terrorism, the government also issued warning against other potential threats, including armed robbery, violent crime and rape.
Meanwhile, ousted Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has slammed the countrys interim leader Muhammad Yunus in her first public address, accusing him of persecuting minorities.
In a virtual address at an event in New York on Sunday, she claimed that there were plans to assassinate her and her sister Sheikh Rehana just like their father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who was assassinated in 1975.
This is her first public address after taking shelter in India following her resignation in August.
Referring to the attack on her official residence in Dhaka on August 5, Hasina said: The armed protestors were directed towards Ganabhaban. If the security guards opened fire, many lives would have been lost. It was a matter of 25-30 minutes, and I was forced to leave. I told them [guards] not to fire no matter what happened.
Today, I am being accused of genocide. In reality, Yunus has been involved in genocide in a meticulously designed manner. The masterminds — the student coordinators and Yunus — are behind this genocide, she said.
Hasina said the current government in Dhaka failed to protect the minorities.
