DHAKA, 27 January 2006 — Bangladesh, struck by a wave of bomb blasts blamed on Islamist militants, asked the United States yesterday to help it fight terrorism. A spate of bomb blasts, including suicide bombings that have killed at least 30 people and wounded 150 in Bangladesh since August, have raised international concerns.
“We have sought US cooperation to break the terrorist networks in the country,” a senior official said after Christina Rocca, US Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs, met Foreign Minister M. Morshed Khan in Dhaka.
Rocca arrived in Bangladesh yesterday for a two-day visit to discuss counterterrorism measures as well as America’s concern over growing political feuds in Bangladesh.
The Bangladesh government blamed the bombings on Islamist militants fighting for the introduction of Shariah law.
