DHAKA: The Bangladesh government has provided armed security to 50 leading citizens, police said on Monday amid a spate of deadly bombings. "We received an order from the Special Branch of police yesterday to provide full-time trained gunmen to 50 of the country's leading intellectuals, lawyers, civil society leaders and politicians," said a Dhaka police spokesman. "Police gave me a full-time armed guard from Sunday. It will be with me when I leave my home," the country's leading intellectual, Mohammad Anisuzzaman, told AFP. The move extends armed security protection from political VIPs (Very Important Persons) to civilian society, the spokesman explained, without giving any reasons. However, it follows a series of attacks and the refusal of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to attend a regional summit in Dhaka for security reasons.
On January 27, a grenade attack on an opposition Awami League rally, killed four persons including a former finance minister. A bomb attack on a press club in southern city Khulna on Saturday blew the hand off a journalist and injured three others. Grenades thrown at an opposition really last year killed more than 20. The Awami League said its leader Sheikh Hasina had escaped an attempt on her life.