India's top counter-terrorism agency has uncovered a suspected plot by a banned militant group to assassinate the prime minister of Bangladesh and carry out a coup, three senior Indian security officials told Reuters on Tuesday.



India will hand over a dossier to Bangladesh with details of the plan by members of the Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen, which has carried out scores of attacks in India's eastern neighbour, the government and police officials said.

Bangladesh did not comment directly on the assertions that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had been the target of a plot, but said it had tightened security on the border with India.

The alleged conspiracy was discovered after two members of the group were killed in an explosion while building homemade bombs at a house in West Bengal earlier this month. Indian police say the militants were Bangladeshis and were using India as a safe haven to plan the attacks.

"The strategy was to hit the political leaders of the country and demolish the democratic infrastructure of Bangladesh," said a senior Home (interior) Ministry official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

"This was all being planned on Indian soil and we could have been blamed if there was an attack."