DHAKA, 12 September 2004 — World Bank Country Director Christine I. Wallich has left Bangladesh after receiving a death threat, an official with the lending agency said.

A letter was sent to her residence in Gulshan, Dhaka, on Tuesday marking her as the next target of bomb attacks that prompted her to leave the country the same night, officials said yesterday.

Wallich, an American, is the first foreigner known to have received a death threat since the Aug. 21 grenade attack on an Awami League rally that killed 21 people.

The World Bank’s local office could not provide further details. “All I can say is that she has left the country after a bomb threat,” an official said.

Prime Minister Khaleda Zia’s Political Secretary Harris Chowdhury, however, told reporters: “We have no idea if she (Wallich) has received a bomb threat. It could be real or a joke.”

He alleged that some people with vested interests are trying to destabilize Bangladesh and grab headlines through such threats. “We don’t consider such threats serious. Still, we are taking all-out measures.”

Dale Lautenbach, World Bank’s regional communications manager for South Asia, said the Bangladesh government was informed about the threat. The government was also told that the World Bank resident representative was temporarily leaving Bangladesh, she added.

The Foreign Ministry said it was not aware of any specific threat to the World Bank official. The government has taken adequate security measures to protect all diplomats and other foreign nationals in Bangladesh, ministry officials said.

Bomb scares and death threats have become commonplace since the Aug. 21 Dhaka attack.

Bangladesh has put security forces on high alert on its northeastern border with India after two arrested Indians named their accomplices in a regional network of explosive smugglers, officials said yesterday.

Police in Dhaka detained two Bangladeshi businessmen, whom the arrested Indians identified as members of an explosive smuggling ring operating along the border.

The men, Azizur Rahman and Abdul Motaleb, were being interrogated by intelligence agencies. The border guards and police also launched a search for other members of the smuggling operation.