DHAKA - BANGLADESH has tightened security for former premier Sheikh Hasina Wajed following Indian reports that Islamic extremists planned to kill her ahead of Dec 29 polls, an official said on Sunday.

Director general of the elite Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) Hasan Mahmud Khandaker said they were investigating the threat reported by television channel CNN-IBN, which quoted unnamed Indian intelligence officials.

'Security has already been beefed up for Sheikh Hasina. The RAB and police are also making investigations into the threat,' Mr Khandaker said.

Sheikh Hasina's Awami League party and its allies are contesting elections that will transfer power to a democratically elected government after nearly two years of rule by an army-backed administration.

She was the prime minister of the country between 1996 and 2001 and was the target of an assassination attempt in 2004 when suspected Islamists threw grenades at her, killing at least 20 people and injuring hundreds of others.

Muslim-majority Bangladesh has been hit by a series of attacks by Islamic groups in recent years - including 400 blasts on just one day in August 2005 carried out by the banned Jamayetul Mujahideen Bangladesh.

Mr Khandaker said security forces have also stepped up protection for Sheikh Hasina's bitter rival and two times ex-premier Khaleda Zia who leads the Bangladesh Nationalist Party.

Authorities have deployed nearly 50,000 troops in a bid to avert pre-poll violence.

Bangladesh has been run by a caretaker government, which in January 2007 cancelled elections and imposed a state of emergency after months of political violence brought the country to a standstill.

The government lifted the emergency on Wednesday. -- AFP