The US intelligence chief said on Tuesday efforts by Bangladesh’s prime minister to undermine the political opposition will probably provide openings for transnational terrorist groups to expand their presence in the South Asian country, reports Associated Press (AP).

US National Intelligence director James Clapper questioned Bangladesh’s public insistence that the killings of foreigners were the work of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party and the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami and are intended to discredit the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

In written testimony to a Senate hearing on worldwide threats, Clapper noted the claims of responsibility from the Islamic State group for 11 high profile attacks on foreigners and religious minorities, and claims from the Ansarullah Bangla Team and al-Qaida in the Indian Subcontinent for killing at least 11 progressive writers and bloggers in Bangladesh since 2013.

Earlier, Sheikh Hasina’s government has denied that the Islamic State group has a presence in the country, and has accused domestic Islamist groups and political opponents for the violence.