Monday, August 21 2006 15:10 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Dhaka: In yet another expression of US concern over political violence in Bangladesh, 18 Congressmen have written to Prime Minister Khaleda Zia asking for a fresh probe into a grenade attack at an opposition Awami League rally two years ago in which 23 people were killed.

Criticising the investigations carried out so far, the US lawmakers in a letter sent on Aug 17 said, "This was a calculated attack with enormous political implications since the entire leadership of the Awami League was present at the rally."

Former prime minister Sheikh Hasina had narrowly escaped the Aug 21, 2004, attack when grenades were hurled from rooftops by suspected Islamist militants.

The letter comes after two years of investigations by Bangladesh authorities that have not yielded any results. The latest explanation coming from Minister of State for Home Lutfozzaman Babar is that the suspects are hiding in India and cannot be nabbed.

The signatories of the letter are Joseph Crowley, Charles Gonzalez, Alcee Hastings, Frank Pallone, Diane E. Watson, Eliot L. Engel, Robert Wexler, G.K. Butterfield, Corinne Brown, Janice D. Schakowsky, Michael Capuano, Barney Frank, Brian Higgins, Sherrod Brown, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Kendrick B. Meek, Anthony D. Weiner and A.l. Green.

The Democrat and Republican lawmakers criticised the government for its failure to bring the perpetrators of the attack to justice and said the evidence was not preserved properly for investigation.

The US has from time to time expressed its opinion on the political violence in Bangladesh. Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher last month visited the home of A.M.S. Kibria, an economist and a former minister who was killed during another grenade attack at a political rally in early 2005. Boucher had called for a fair and speedy trial.

The investigations have not gone far, although initially the American FBI and Interpol were associated. The government has rounded up a score of suspects, but has been able to detain only three, media reports have said.

"Despite assurances of a proper investigation into the attack, evidence was not properly preserved and individuals with no connection to the crime were brought forward as false suspects and ultimately released," the US Congressmen said.

"They further observed those responsible appear to have gotten away with impunity," he said.

"Besides, assistance provided at the request of your (Khaleda Zia) government by the United States and other nations was not utilised fully to investigate the attack," the letter said.

"The Aug 21 attack triggered escalation of political violence in Bangladesh, both in quantity and severity Kibria's killing, emergence of Islamic radical groups, the first suicide bomb attacks in the history of Bangladesh, along with 469 simultaneous bombings across the country on Aug 17 last year ," the US Congressmen said.

"Failure of the investigation is symbolic of a serious diminution of rule of law in Bangladesh and it has emboldened lawlessness and allowed Islamic extremist elements to gain ground in Bangladesh," they added.

"They also expressed concern over the impact of the failure of the investigation into the attack on the next general elections in Bangladesh," The Daily Star said.

"With the national election in less than six months the failure to apprehend suspects and mete out justice in this high profile attack on the head of the opposition party, sends a disconcerting message to voters for the potential of intimidation and violence in the run up to the election," he said.

Meanwhile, Sheikh Hasina alleged that that training of Islamist militant terrorists was still going on in different parts of the country.

Zia's government, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its ally Jamaat-e-Islami, has a close link with them, UNB news agency reported.

"People must know who are involved in the series of bomb and grenade attacks," Hasina was quoted as saying by the Bangladesh Observer.