Egypt embassy in Dhaka shut over security reasons

Egyptian embassy in Bangladesh will remain closed for 11 days from today over “security reasons’’.

The development came a after the embassy received a letter from an unidentified sender asking the Egyptian authorities to stop “killing of Muslim Brotherhood members’’.

“The consular section of the embassy will remain closed from August 21-31 due to some security reasons,” the embassy said in a statement without elaboration.

Deputy chief of mission Omar Shoeb told PTI that “security reasons” prompted them to keep suspended the consular section for several days but added that extra policemen tightened the security around the embassy compound.

Officials of the police’s chancery security wing said they were informed that the embassy received a letter demanding an end to the killing of the supporters of deposed President Mohamed Morsi.

“We have sent a team yesterday to tighten the embassy’s security on receiving the information,” said a spokesman of the Rapid Action Battalion.

Several right-wing Islamic groups earlier protested the army actions against the Brotherhood activists.

Some 200 student wing activists of fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami, believed to have close political affiliation with Brotherhood, staged a protest march in Dhaka yesterday. They exploded several crude bombs to denounce the army actions in Egypt.

Dhaka and Cairo maintain a close diplomatic tie but Dhaka is yet to issue any statement on the recent developments in Egypt.