Dhaka attack: two police officers killed and seven Italians among hostages

Italian ambassador says his countrymen among those held by gunmen at Holey Artisan Bakery cafe in diplomatic quarter of Bangladeshi capital

Dhaka attack: police surround restaurant after gunmen take hostages

Saad Hammadi in Dhaka andAlan Yuhas in New York-Saturday 2 July 2016

Gunmen have attacked a restaurant in the diplomatic quarter of the Bangladeshi capital, killing two police officers and taking an unknown number of people hostage, including seven Italians.

Gowher Rizvi, an adviser to Bangladesh’s prime minister, told Reuters early on Saturday that security forces were trying to negotiate an end to the crisis. But failing this they would launch an offensive to end the siege, possibly as soon as daybreak, he said. There were reports that negotiators had so far failed to make contact with the attackers.

Benjir Ahmed, chief of the country’s special police force, told reporters on Friday night that eight to nine gunmen had attacked the restaurant in the Gulshan area of Dhaka. Aside from the two dead officers, 27 police personnel and at least one civilian were injured in the attack, confirmed Binoy Krishna Bala, deputy inspector general of police.

The Italian ambassador to Bangladesh, Mario Palmer, said that seven of his countrymen were among the hostages. “It is a suicide attack. They want to carry out a powerful and bloody operation and there is no room for negotiation,” Palma said. An Italian foreign ministry source said one Italian had escaped but had told police there were seven others still inside. It is also thought that Indian nationals are among the hostages.

Late on Friday night, Islamic State claimed credit for the attack in a statement issued by its self-styled news agency, saying that at least 20 people had been killed, a claim denied by police.

Local media reported that gunmen had entered the Holey Artisan Bakery cafe and opened fire at around 9.20pm on Friday. They also reported as many as 20 people taken hostage, and that as many as 40 people in all were injured.

Mohammad Jasimuddin, a member of the kitchen staff, was inside the restaurant when the gunmen stormed in. “There were about 50 to 60 staff inside. These people came and opened fire. We thought they were dacoits [bandits] and would leave after looting money and valuables,” he said.

“I heard them screaming Allahu Akbar [God is great] and firing shots,” he told the Guardian. “We thought they’d leave in 15 to 20 minutes, instead they went upstairs to the second floor [that was] under construction. They were firing from there.” He said that he and other employees jumped over barbed wire fences to escape. He estimated there were about 25 to 30 customers inside at the time.

A police constable named Kamruzzaman told the Guardian that the gunmen threw explosives from the second floor. “We reached the spot of attack within seven minutes of the incident taking place,” he said. “They opened fire from there, we fired back.

“We tried to rescue a civilian but they shot him down. He was lying by the lakeside close to the restaurant,” Kamruzzaman added. “We didn’t know they had grenades in possession.”

A local police station chief, Mohammed Salahuddin, was killed in the gunfight along with one other officer, confirmed Ashraful Karim, the assistant police commissioner and Salahuddin’s immediate superior.

Fazle Arshad Haque said he had not heard from his nephew who had been visiting the restaurant on Friday night with his girlfriend. “I live nearby. I come here with my daughter everyday to have ice cream,” said Haque. He feared for his nephew’s safety and said he lacked confidence in the police. “There may be 10 million police, they are very incapable … Bangladesh is not prepared for these sort of things.”

A large contingency of police and security guards cordoned off the area, trading gunfire with the attackers but police said they hoped to negotiate with the gunmen.

Ahmed, chief of the Rapid Action Battalion, said: “We believe we can resolve this peacefully.

“Some derailed youths have entered the restaurant and launched the attack. We have talked to some of the people who fled the restaurant after the attack,” he said. “We are trying to talk to the attackers, we want to listen to them about what they want.”

Ahmed would not say how many people were trapped inside but said officers’ “first priority” was to save the hostages. Masudur Rahman, deputy commissioner of police, said that authorities had asked the media to stop all live broadcasts of the standoff.

By about 2am local time, the Special Warfare Diving and Salvage Command, a special commando force of the Bangladeshi navy, had reached the restaurant. “We are going to provide support” to the force running the operation, said a navy official.

Bangladesh has seen a series of attacks, mostly using machetes, targeting bloggers, atheists and religious minorities. 

Earlier on Friday, a Hindu temple worker was hacked to death in the south-west of the country in the latest attack blamed on radical Islamists, police said. 

At least three assailants on a motorbike fled the scene after hacking Shyamonando Das with sharp weapons, local police chief Hasan Hafizur Rahman said. 

The attack happened in Jhenaidah district, 210km (120 miles) south-west of Dhaka, as the victim was plucking flowers for his morning prayers near the temple, Rahman said. The worker died on the spot.

The US state department said it was too early to say who was involved or what motivation the gunmen might have, but confirmed that all Americans working at the US mission were accounted for. Spokesman John Kirby called it a “very fluid, very live situation”.