A special agent of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has arrived in Dhaka to investigate a January grenade attack on an opposition rally in which five people died, the US embassy said yesterday. FBI Special Agent Trung Vu will meet Bangladeshi law enforcement officials to discuss terms of reference and his participation in the investigation, the embassy said in a statement. The Jan. 27 grenade attack killed five members of the main opposition Awami League, including ex-Finance Minister Shah AMS Kibria, who was also a former under secretary general of the United Nations. Immediately after the attack, Bangladesh sought the help of the FBI as well as Britain's Scotland Yard and international police liaison body Interpol to help conduct the investigations. Bangladesh's junior Home Minister Lutfuzzaman Babar declined to comment on the involvement of the FBI agent. Meanwhile, the government of Prime Minister Khaleda Zia has virtually declared 28 former joint and deputy secretaries persona non-grata inside the Bangladesh Secretariat — the seat of administration in Dhaka — for their anti-government campaigns. The 28 officials, 23 joint secretaries and five deputy secretaries, were earlier given compulsory retirement for joining the 1996 "Janatar Mancha," an Awami League-sponsored anti government platform. The Security Section of the Ministry of Home Affairs issued an order asking the law enforcement agencies to seize their permanent and temporary passes for entry into the secretariat, officials said yesterday.