Bangladeshi leader warns kidnappers

A helicopter searches the area near the kidnap

By Waliur Rahman Miraz in Dhaka

Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said her government will use force if tribal abductors fail to release three European engineers who were kidnapped nearly two weeks ago in south-eastern Bangladesh.

Sheikh Hasina: Commandos have been on standby

She told a news conference in Dhaka that army commandos were ready to free the hostages.

Briton Tim Selby and his Danish colleagues Torben Mikkelsen and Nils Hulgaard were abducted while surveying a road construction project in the remote Chittagong Hill Tracts region.

The prime minister says the government is trying to free the hostages through mediation - even though the kidnappers are not responding to negotiation proposals made by the authorities.

Military on standby

She said that if the kidnappers failed to release the hostages, the government would use army commandos who have been kept on stand-by.

Commandos were used a few years ago to rescue government officials who were kidnapped by a group of tribals in the same area of the hill tracts.

Briton Tim Selby: Was surveying road project

However, Sheikh Hasina did not mention any time frame for army action.

The three Europeans were allegedly abducted by a tribal group opposed to the 1997 peace treaty in the Chittagong Hill Tracts between the government and main tribal leaders.

However, so far, no tribal group has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping.

Both the British and the Danish Governments have expressed concern over the hostage crisis.

No direct contact

The prime minister said that she appreciated their concern, but suggested that the Europeans were not supposed to be in the area from which they were kidnapped.

She questioned why they had gone there.

Meanwhile, government negotiators again tried to make direct contact with the abductors on Wednesday, but returned from the jungle hideout without any result.

Later, they told journalists that the abductors' demand for $1.6m in ransom would not be entertained.