Police deny holding Briton after massacre

Police in Bangladesh have denied they are still holding a British man and a University of Toronto student who went missing since they were rescued from an attack by radical Islamists on a restaurant in Dhaka, saying they questioned then freed the pair.

Relatives have not heard from Hasnat Karim and Canadian student Tahmid Hasib Khan since 20 people were killed on July 1. Human Rights Watch said they were still being held by detectives but police spokesman Masudur Rahman told the Associated Press yesterday: “They are not in our custody. We don’t know anything.”

He would not confirm reports that they were being detained by other agencies investigating the gun attack on the capital’s Holey Artisan Bakery.