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UP FRONTMonday 4 July 2016
Bangladesh hunts hostage crisis clues, investigates IS claimÂ
DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) Bangladeshi policemen on duty wear black badges on the first of two days of national mourning minorities.
— Security officials for the victims of the attack on the Holey Artisan Bakery in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Sunday, July 3, Prime Minister Sheikh Ha-
searched on Sunday for 2016. The assault on the restaurant in Dhaka’s diplomatic zone by militants who took dozens of sina has blamed her politi-
evidence and the possible people hostage marks an escalation in militant violence in the Muslim-majority nation. cal opponents of trying to
masterminds of the week- create chaos by backing
end hostage-taking in an (AP Photo) domestic militants.
upscale restaurant in Ban- “Anyone who believes in
gladesh’s capital. The gov- to police. Asked whether religion cannot do such an
ernment has denied the they might also have had act,†Hasina said Saturday.
Islamic State group’s claim Islamic State ties, Police “They do not have any re-
of responsibility for the at- Inspector General A.K.M. ligion, their only religion is
tack that left 28 dead, in- Shahidul Hoque said au- terrorism.â€
cluding six attackers and thorities were investigating On Sunday morning, the
20 of the hostages. that possibility. first of two days of national
Police released photo- Despite the police saying IS mourning for the victims,
graphs of the bodies of five links were being investigat- police were blocking all
attackers, along with their ed, the home minister re- access to streets near the
first names: Akash, Badhon, futed the possibility that the Holey Artisan Bakery where
Bikash, Don and Ripon. Islamic State directed the the siege occurred. Inves-
The men belonged to the attack from abroad. Ban- tigators from both Bangla-
banned domestic group gladesh’s government desh and Japan visited the
Jumatul Mujahedeen Ban- insists the extremist Sunni restaurant to collect evi-
gladesh, or JMB, and their Muslim group based in dence.
families hadn’t heard from Syria and Iraq has no pres- The 20 hostages who were
them in months, according ence in the country, and killed included nine Italians,
in the past has suggested seven Japanese, three
that any claims of respon- Bangladeshis and one In-
sibility for violence waged dian teenager. Two police
in the South Asian country officers were killed by the
are simply opportunistic at- attackers, and 13 people
tempts at grabbing global were rescued when com-
attention. mandos stormed the res-
“They are all Bangladeshis. taurant Saturday morning.
They are from rich families, Another 25 officers and
they have good educa- one civilian were wound-
tional background,†Khan ed, and some of the res-
said of the attackers. One cued hostages had inju-
surviving suspect was de- ries. The hospitals treating
tained when paramilitary them would not give fresh
forces ended the 10-hour information on their condi-
standoff Saturday morning, tions Sunday.
and authorities said he was The attack was the worst
being interrogated. in the recent series of at-
The siege marked an es- tacks by radical Islamists
calation in the militant in the moderate, mostly
violence that has hit Ban- Muslim nation of 160 mil-
gladesh with increasing lion. Unlike the previous at-
frequency. Most of the at- tacks, the assailants were
tacks in the past several well-prepared and heavily
months have involved ma- armed with guns, bombs
chete-wielding men sin- and sharp objects that po-
gling out individual activ- lice later said were used to
ists, foreigners and religious torture some of the 35 cap-
tives.
That the attackers target-
ed a popular restaurant
in the heart of the diplo-
matic quarter of Bangla-
desh’s capital signaled a
change in tactics. The res-
taurant overlooking a lake
serves Spanish food and is
patronized by residents of
Gulshan, an affluent neigh-
borhood where most of
the foreign embassies are
located.
The hostages were asked
to recite verses from the
Quran, to prove them-
selves Muslim, according
to a witness. q
