Bangladesh home minister dismisses Al-Qaeda cell warning as assumption-driven

Bangladesh home minister Salahuddin Ahmed said the government would not act on a recent United Nations Security Council report warning that Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent was seeking to establish cells in Bangladesh, calling the assessment assumption-driven.

“I have heard about it, but I have not read it,” Salahuddin told reporters.

“As far as I have heard from newspaper reports, they have made an assumption that something like this could happen. We are not taking any steps based on an assumption-based report,” he said.

The United Nations report expressed concern over attempts by Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent to “exploit Bangladesh” to establish cells.

Salahuddin said he could not comment further before reading the report.

“There may be some observations in the report. I cannot say anything without seeing it,” he said.