Security at U.N offices increased

The Bangladeshi government announced that it has increased security measures at U.N. offices in the country after a militant Islamist group threatened to kill local U.N. staff members in the coastal district of Barisal. Reports indicate that representatives of the outlawed Jamaatul Mujahideen militant group delivered a typewritten letter to a UNICEF office in Barisal threatening to kill U.N. workers unless the office was closed and abandoned. Three U.N. offices in Barisal have been checked with metal detectors, and UNICEF officials are reportedly working with the government to avert any threat from the militant Islamist group. Jamaatul Mujahideen militants have been blamed for terrorist bombings in Bangladesh in 2005, and government forces announced on 12 April that eight suspected Jumatul Majahedeen members were arrested in anti-terror raids in Dhaka.