Twenty foreigners killed in Dhaka cafe attack - army spokesman
DHAKA July 2 (REUTERS)-All 20 victims of an attack on an upmarket cafe in Dhaka were foreigners, the spokesman for the Bangladesh army said today.
Colonel Rashidul Hasan said he could not yet confirm the nationalities of those who had died, most of whom were killed by sharp weapons.
Gunmen launched an assault on the cafe packed with customers in the Bangladeshi capital late on Friday, before police stormed the building early today to free some hostages. Six gunmen were killed and a seventh captured.
Army Brigadier General Naim Asraf Chowdhury told a news conference 13 people were rescued including one Japanese and two Sri Lankans.
Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said in a TV broadcast. She said 13 hostages were rescued, but that police were unable to save all of them.
“The operation is over and the situation is under control,” army spokesman Colonel Rashidul Hasan told Reuters.
The attack marks a major escalation in a campaign by Islamic militants over the past 18 months that had targeted mostly individuals advocating a secular or liberal approach in mostly Muslim Bangladesh.
One Japanese man was among those rescued and taken to a Dhaka hospital with a gunshot wound, a Japanese government spokesman said. Italy's ambassador to Bangladesh, Mario Palma, told Italian state TV seven Italians were among the hostages.
Islamic State, which has claimed the attacks, posted photos of what it said were dead foreigners killed in the assault. Police said they believed about eight to nine gunmen had been holed up in the cafe, armed with assault rifles and grenades.
Gowher Rizvi, an adviser to Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, told Reuters security forces had tried to negotiate with the gunmen.
The hostage crisis began when security guards in the Gulshan district of Dhaka, popular with expatriates, noticed several gunmen outside a medical centre, Rizvi said. When the guards approached, the gunmen ran into the Holey Artisan cafe, which was packed with people waiting for tables, he said.
Police said the assailants exchanged sporadic gunfire with police outside for several hours after the gunmen attacked the restaurant around 9 p.m. on Friday.
A police officer at the scene said that when security forces tried to enter the premises at the beginning of the siege they were met with a hail of bullets and grenades that killed at least two of them.
Television footage showed a number of police being led away from the site with blood on their faces and clothes.
Islamic State said 24 people had died. Bangladesh police denied that, saying the two police officers were killed and at least 20 people wounded.
A cafe employee who escaped told local television about 20 customers were in the restaurant at the time, most of them foreigners. Some 15 to 20 staff were working at the restaurant, the employee said.
The rescued Japanese man was eating dinner with seven other Japanese, all of whom were consultants for Japan's foreign aid agency, the Japanese government spokesman said. He did not know what happened to the others.
The hostage crisis marks an escalation from a recent spate of murders claimed by Islamic State and al Qaeda on liberals, gays, foreigners and religious minorities, and could deal a major blow to the country's vital $25 billion garment sector.