US, UK urged not to train Bangladesh force

The United States and Britain should immediately stop supporting a Bangladeshi anti-crime force blamed for killing hundreds of suspects without trial if there is no visible effort to reform it, a rights group said on Thursday.

The Rapid Action Battalion, or RAB, was responsible for more than 1,000 extra-judicial slayings in the preceding five years, a 2009 report by Human Rights Watch alleged. The countries have trained the Bangladeshi force as part of a counterterrorism strategy since at least 2008, leaked US diplomatic cables say.

Britain trained RAB members on human rights issues, investigative interviewing techniques and other skills. The US pro-vided only human rights training in adherence to a US law that made further assistance illegal because of the battalion's past human rights violations.