ISIS planned attacks on Australian Cricket team

In a news which may hamper Bangladesh’s bid to convince visiting nations of its security, it has been revealed in a report by Daily Mail, that Australia’s cricket team were allegedly targeted by ISIS terrorists during a planned trip to Bangladesh.

Australia, who had a tour of Bangladesh scheduled in the month of October in 2015, had pulled out citing security reasons. Cricket Australia also kept its Under 19 team, away from the ICC Under 19 World Cup  which was hosted by Bangladesh earlier this year.

This news comes just days after England Cricket Board (ECB) confirmed their visit to Bangladesh. The England team is scheduled to begin on September 30 for a month-long tour.

“We had an event sorted with the touring team,” former Bangladesh Cricket head of performance Mal Loye told the Daily Mail.

“My boss’s wife was arranging the event with the Australians.

“The Australian Government saw the plans from the underworld guys about what was going to happen. The plans didn’t work out for the terrorists because the Australian team didn’t arrive there.”

Bangladesh Cricket Board is currently had a tough time convincing ECB to send their team. The ECB had stated that it won’t in opposition to send their team till a full security assessment was done. Later, after receiving a positive report on the security measures, the five-week tour of Bangladesh was given a go ahead.

Security concerns arose following a terrorist attack by militants on a Dhaka café on July 1 which claimed 22 lives, 20 of which were foreigners. The impact of the attack on the nation’s capital was immediately visible as the ECB indicated that they were prepared to cancel the tour of Bangladesh if they or the British government deemed the security situation in Bangladesh unsafe come the squad’s scheduled departure date. The responsibility of the attack was taken by ISIS.