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Washington lauds Dhaka's anti-terrorism efforts

Diplomatic Correspondent
The US State Department in its annual report on terrorism lauded the efforts of Bangladesh government in curbing terrorist activities but said porous borders and internal political strife threatened the progress made against violent extremists.
The report said although the caretaker government made a concerted effort to crack down on corruption and address the root causes of violent extremism within its borders, "mistrust between Bangladesh and India stymied potential counterterrorism cooperation between the two countries'.
The congressionally mandated Country Reports on Terrorism 2007 was released on April 30 in Washington DC.
"Terrorism remained a serious problem in the region, directly and indirectly threatening .American interests and lives. Increasingly. South and Central .Asian terrorists expanded their operations and networks across the region and beyond. To varying degrees, US cooperation with regional partners on counterterrorism issues continued to increase, but much is left to be accomplished," the report noted.
The report mentioned that Bangladesh continued to arrest dozens of alleged members of Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), the banned Islamist extremist group responsible for a wave of bombings and suicide artacks in late 2005, and recovered bombmaking materials and weapons from their hideouts.
"The arrests, combined with the execution in March of six senior JMB leaders, appeared to have depleted the membership of the organisation. Although there was speculation that JMB remnants might try to reorganise to launch a new wave of attacks, no such terror campaign unfolded," it added.
The report noted that the calc-taker government pledged to pass a series of amendments that would strengthen Bangladesh's Anti-Money Laundering Act and a draft Anti-Terrorism Act, but failed to do so by the end of the year.
The legislation would help Bangladesh enter Egmont, the international body of financial intelligence units that plays a critical role in fighting terror financing, it added.
The caretaker government took a strong stance against corruption and arrested many leading politicians and businessmen on graft charges. The US launched a $20 million five-year anti-corruption programme in Bangladesh to further transparency and good
governance efforts, necessary foundations for counterterrorism activity.
US and Bangladeshi law enforcement agencies cooperated well on several cases related to domestic and international terrorism. The US continued to fund antiterrorism assistance programmes for the Bangladeshi security forces. Bangladesh also continued cooperation with the US to strengthen control of its borders and land, sea, and air ports of entry.
The report mentioned that on May 1, three small bombs went off at railway stations in the major cities of Dhaka, Chittagong and Syihet. Authorities found a message signed by Zadid al Qaeda at each of the sites threatening nongovernmental agencies if they did not leave Bangladesh within 10 days. The deadline passed without incident and it remained unclear who was responsible for the attacks.
It said neighbouring India continued to allege that the United Liberation Front of Assam (Ulfa) and other anti-India insurgency groups operated from Bangladesh with the knowledge of senior Bangladeshi government officials.
India also blamed the terrorist group Harkatul Jihad Al Islami Bangladesh for bomb attacks in the city of Hyderabad in May and August. Bangladesh strongly denied these allegations.
The absence of counterterrorism cooperation between India and Bangladesh fuelled mutual allegations that each country facilitated terrorism inside the borders of the other.