Bangla Academy receives letter threatening bomb attack on Ekushey Book Fair

Police say they have taken the threat seriously

The Bangladesh Academy has received a letter that threatened the authorities with a bomb attack on the Amar Ekushey Book Fair.

The academy filed a general diary at Shahbagh Police Station after Director General Mohammad Nurul Huda received the letter purportedly from the banned militant group Ansar Al Islam.

Police said on Thursday they took the threat seriously with only four days of the fair left.

“We’re investigating the matter with great importance,” said Md Shahidullah, a deputy commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police.

The sender identified himself in the letter as Md Saiful Islam.

Shahidullah said they were checking if Ansar Al Islam was behind the threat.

“We’ve taken all sorts of security measures at the fair.”