IS believed to be linked to Bangladesh: Kerry

Kerry’s maiden visit to Bangladesh, at the virtual end of President Barack Obama’s tenure, was deemed “significant” by diplomats as they thought the US was giving importance to Hasina’s government after cold-shouldering it for years. “There is evidence that IS in Iraq and Syria has contacts with about eight different entities around the world and one of them is in South Asia,” Kerry said. “They are connected to some degree with some of the operatives here and we made that very clear in our conversation. There was no argument about it,” he said after talks with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and his Bangladeshi counterpart AH Mahmood Ali. 

Hasina’s administration has consistently denied that ISIS has gained a foothold in the country and Kerry’s remarks are a major blow to that stance. Kerry conveyed the US’ interest to work closely with intelligence agencies of Bangladesh to fight terrorism and said that “we need to exchange information to combat terrorism”, Hasina’s press secretary Ihsanul Karim told a media briefing.