Bangladesh rejects UN report on Al-Qaeda cell threat as assumption-driven

Dhaka,UPDATED: Aug 17, 2026 19:10 IST

Bangladesh on Monday described a recent UN Security Council report on Al-Qaeda’s alleged efforts to establish cells in the country as “assumption-driven”, and said the government was not taking any action on its basis.

The report, submitted by the Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team to the Security Council’s 1267 Sanctions Committee on ISIL and Al-Qaeda, said there was concern about Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent, or AQIS, “trying to exploit Bangladesh to establish cells there”. Bangladesh, however, said it had not acted on the report, while police said they had no specific information about any AQIS cell risk.

Replying to questions from reporters, Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed said: “We are not taking this (report) into consideration. I have not read the report yet. Besides, as far as I have heard, it says they have assumed that such a thing could happen. So, we are not taking any action based on an assumption-driven report.”

The 38th report, issued and circulated among member states last week, said that “AQIS continued to evolve from a fragmented group into a regional terrorist entity.” It added: “AQIS established logistics and financial networks, working in decentralised small, scattered cells instead of large units. The attack in November 2025 on the Red Fort in Delhi was officially attributed to AQIS.”

Bangladesh police said they had no specific information on any AQIS cell threat. However, a senior officer of the Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime unit, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Daily Star that Bangladesh’s counter-terrorism capacity had suffered over the past two years, when an interim regime largely ran the country. The Muhammad Yunus-led interim administration took office after violent street protests toppled then prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s government on August 5, 2024. The interim regime remained in place until the February 12 elections, which brought Tarique Rahman’s government to power.

According to the newspaper, the CTTC official said that “experienced teams were weakened and surveillance on terrorism suspects released on bail was curtailed” during the past two years. Last month, Bangladesh issued a nationwide security alert, specifically asking police to protect their personnel and vehicles, while a separate order called for tighter security at airports. Overall, the government has rejected the UN report as based on assumptions, even as concerns over counter-terrorism preparedness have been raised within the police.

With PTI Inputs

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