Dhaka attack: Bangladesh HM blames “home grown” terrorists

Dhaka : Clarifying that there is no presence of Islamic State in the country, Bangladesh’s Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan today said the terrorists, who killed 20 hostages at a Dhaka restaurant, were home grown and are trying to connect with the militant group.

Khan said the militants, who attacked the upscale cafe Holey Artisan and took the visitors hostage on Friday, were Bangladeshi nationals.

“You see Islamic State is a slogan. There is no existence of IS in Bangladesh. This is home grown terrorists and wants to contact with IS. This is the main thing. But all are our home grown and our national. It is not from other countries. It is our people. They are sometimes Jamaat-Ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), sometimes other different groups and now they are trying to contact with IS,” Khan told ANI.

The Home Minister condemned the terrorist attack and apologised for the deaths of innocent lives including foreign nationals.

“You have witnesses a massive terrorist attack that happened in the 1st of July. You have seen it. All the terrorists were killed and 20 innocent foreigners lost their lives including our three Bangladeshi people. Very innocent people, they were here to have the tea and actually we are very sorry,” he said.

“We all Bangladeshi we are very sorry. This is very shocking, painful effect for us,” he added.

20 people were killed by the gunmen during the attack.

The 12-hour-long hostage crisis ended after a two-hour long assault by armed forces’ commandos killing six gunmen yesterday morning and capturing one alive.

The nationalities of the 20 hostages, who were found dead inside the Holey Artisan Bakery cafe after Bangladeshi troops stormed the cafe early Saturday morning ending a nearly 11-hour siege, have also been released.

Nine of the victims were Italian, seven were Japanese, one was from India, two were Bangladeshi and one was a U.S. citizen of Bangladeshi origin, according to the country’s Joint Force Command. (ANI)