ut-Tahrir, a controversial international militant group, for trying to destabilize the country, days after unidentified attackers bombed the car of a lawmaker from the ruling party. Hizb-ut-Tahrir, which officials say has been banned in at least 20 countries, topped a government list of about 10 groups suspected of plotting subversive acts in Bangladesh, Home Minister Sahara Khatun said. “It has been banned as it was carrying out anti-state, anti-government, anti-people and anti-democratic activities for long in the country,” Khatun told reporters late Thursday. About a dozen people were wounded this week when unknown assailants threw a bomb at the car of Fazle Noor Tapas, a member of parliament from the Awami League party of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and who is also her nephew. Tapas escaped unhurt. The head of Hizb-ut-Tahrir in Bangladesh, Mohiuddin Ahmed, was about to give a statement to the media Friday, but police raided his home and disrupted the news conference, journalists attending the event said. Ahmed, who is also a professor at Dhaka University, fled shortly after the police raid and neither he nor his family could be immediately reached for comment. Home ministry officials said they had ordered a countrywide hunt for the perpetrators of Wednesday's attack on Tapas, in addition to stepping up security for senior politicians. The government says there are hundreds of militants operating in predominantly Muslim Bangladesh.
