Gunmen stormed a crowded restaurant popular with foreigners in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka on Friday night, taking dozens of people hostage and triggering a deadly firefight with police, witnesses and officials said.
The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack on the Holey Artisan Bakery restaurant in Dhaka’s upmarket Gulshan diplomatic quarter in which two police officers were killed.24 people were killed and 40 injured in Dhaka
“Some people are being held at gunpoint,” said Monirul Islam, chief of the police Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime Unit.
Some managed to speak to relatives by phone, reporting there were up to 40 people trapped inside, around half of them foreigners, the private Ekattur TV station said.
Another told relatives he feared they would be killed if police tried to storm the restaurant to end the siege.
“He is very nervous,” the man’s nephew, who had spoken to him by phone, told AFP.
“He urged the police not to storm the restaurant, saying the gunmen will kill them.”
One policeman was dead and two others wounded by gunfire that erupted as they surrounded the restaurant, police said. A resident near the scene of the attack said he could hear sporadic gunfire nearly three hours after the attack began.
“It is chaos out there. The streets are blocked. There are dozens of police commandos,” said Tarique Mir.
Bangladesh has seen an increase in militant violence over the last year. Deadly attacks have been mounted against atheists and members of religious minorities in the mostly Muslim country of 160 million people, with attackers often using machetes.
Militants killed two foreigners last year, leading several Western firms involved in the country’s $25 billion garment sector to temporarily halt visits to Dhaka. Both Islamic State and al Qaeda have claimed responsibility for militant attacks in the country.
But the government denies foreign militant organisations are involved and blames two local groups, Ansar-al-Islam and Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen.
The US State Department said all Americans working at the US mission there had been accounted for. A spokesperson said in Washington the situation was “very fluid, very live”.
Over 20 killed, claims IS
Over 20 killed, claims IS
The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack, an IS-linked news agency reported.
“Islamic State commandos attack a restaurant frequented by foreigners in the city of Dhaka,” the Aamaq news agency said.
It claimed that “more than 20 people of different nationalities (were) killed”.
All Pakistanis safe: Foreign Office
Foreign Office Spokesperson Nafees Zakaria has said all Pakistani diplomats and their families in Dhaka are safe.
“We are in contact with Pakistani diplomatic staff and they are all safe,” Zakaria was quoted by Express News as saying.
Pakistani diplomatic staff has restricted their movement following the attack, the spokesperson added.
Seven Italians among hostages
Seven Italian nationals are thought to be among the hostages taken by gunmen who stormed the cafe, Italian state television said quoting the Italian ambassador to Bangladesh
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