An Indian team arrived here Monday to assess the situation in the wake of an Islamist group's threat to kill Indian cricketers if they tour the country, even as a Bangladeshi minister termed the threat as "bogus".

"We will meet the Indian delegation and we are confident that the tour would go ahead," Minister of State for Home Affairs Lutozzaman Baber said.

"We are convinced that the (threat) is bogus and a hoax," Baber told reporters here after a meeting to discuss next month's summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC).

The Indian team is headed by Yashovardhan Azad, inspector general of police in the VIP security division of India's home ministry.

Its other members are K.B.S. Katoch, joint secretary (personnel) in the external affairs ministry, Amrit Mathur, director of the Indian cricket board's communication and coordination committee, and Sudhakar Rao, manager of the Indian squad.

A group called the Harkat-ul-Jihad had faxed a letter to the Indian high commission here Sunday threatening to kill Indian cricketers if they toured the country.

The cricket tour was to start with a Test match in Dhaka Thursday.

The Indian government has asked the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to delay the squad's departure until Azad's team submits a report on its findings in Dhaka, where it hopes to meet various officials.

The Indian team, which was to play two Tests and three one-day internationals, was scheduled to leave Kolkata Tuesday morning for Dhaka. It is scheduled to play matches in Dhaka and Chittagong.