(Recasts with army redeployment plan, adds details)

By Nizam Ahmed

DHAKA, Dec 6 (Reuters) - Troops will be deployed across Bangladesh on Dec. 20 to help the civil authorities prepare and hold the Dec. 29 elections peacefully, army chief Moeen U. Ahmed told reporters on Saturday.

Fakhruddin Ahmed, the head of the interim government, asked security forces to be on the alert against underground Islamist groups that might try to disrupt the elections.

Security officials said on Friday that intelligence reports suggested the banned Jammat-ul-Mujahideen group was planning to attack government buildings before the elections.

"Be vigilant against Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen and other ultra extremists and act to destroy their nefarious design against the upcoming elections," Ahmed told officials in northern Rangpur, 360 km (225 miles) northwest of the capital Dhaka.

"Troops will be posted at least 200 metres (yards) away from the (voting) centres to ensure voters execute their franchise without fear and intimidation," Moeen said.

The troops will be deployed until Dec. 31, an election commission official said.

The JuM has been campaigning for Bangladesh, mostly Muslim with a Hindu minority, to be governed under sharia, Islamic law.

The group was blamed for a series of bombings across the country between August and December 2005 which killed at least 30 people including judges, police officers and journalists.

The JuM was temporarily subdued when six top Islamists were executed in March last year, but officials say it has been trying to re-group since then.

Last month security forces raided a JuM hideout, arresting a leader and seizing 70 kg (155 lbs) of explosives and 150 grenade shells.

The interim government, which has used troops to help keep order for most of the past two years, sent them back to their barracks last month because of the country's stability.

The army also helped the election commission, reconstituted by the interim government, to prepare a digitised voters' list with photographs.

The Dec. 29 vote will cap nearly two years of emergency rule by the interim authority, which took over in January 2007 after widespread violence and launched a crackdown on political corruption, cancelling parliamentary elections due that month.

A senior United Nations official said last week that steps taken by the interim government should ensure a fair and credible election.

"Chances of fair and free elections are much higher than two years ago and we hope Bangladesh will have good elections," Francesc Vendrell, head of a U.N. panel sent to evaluate the preparations and conduct of the vote, told Reuters. (Editing by Tim Pearce)

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