B'desh ex-PM Hasina says militants targeting her

DHAKA, Sep 5 (Reuters) Former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said today she feared an assassination attempt by Islamist militants ahead of elections next year, and accused the government of backing the militants.

Hasina, who leads the main opposition Awami League, didn't give details but said she could be targeted to sow chaos in the country before the elections.

''I am always under threat and fear that I may be killed by Islamists as the government was backing them, to create anarchy ahead of the January national election,'' Hasina told reporters.

She accused the government of encouraging Islamists to act against opposition leaders who have launched a nationwide campaign for electoral reforms to ensure a free and fair election.

The government has rejected Hasina's allegations as baseless, but said security was tight across the country.

''We have alerted security forces so that terrorists cannot reorganise ahead of the election,'' State Minister for Home Affairs Lutfuzzaman Babar told reporters.

Islamist militants fighting to turn the mainly Muslim democratic country into a sharia-based Islamic state have been blamed for a wave of attacks last year, killing at least 30 people and wounding around 150.

Hasina's father and Bangladesh's independence leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was killed along with several members of his family in a military coup in August 1975.

Hasina herself escaped an apparent attempt to kill her when several grenades exploded at a Dhaka rally she addressed two years ago. The grenades killed 23 Awami League leaders and workers and wounded about 150.

A 14-party alliance led by the Awami League planned to lay a siege on the office of the chief election commissioner in Dhaka tomorrow, demanding his removal as part of the campaign for electoral reforms.

''We will take to the streets very strongly if the government does not implement the reforms,'' Hasina said.

The opposition accuses the election commissioner of a ro-governemnt bias and wants a say in choosing the head of a caretaker administration to supervise the election.

The government has ignored the opposition demand and accused the opposition of trying to foil the election and disrupt democracy.

REUTERS MS KP2030