Dhaka Restaurant Attack: 14 Hostages Rescued; Operation Underway

Dhaka: Heavily armed terrorists struck at the heart of Bangladesh's diplomatic zone on Friday night, taking dozens of hostages at a restaurant popular with foreigners. Two police officers were killed and at least 26 people wounded in a gunbattle as security forces cordoned off the area and sought to end the standoff.

Gunfight at the restaurant has reportedly in final stages or perhaps ended and about 8-10 hostages have been rescued by commondos who are reportedly still inside the building.

The number of gunmen and hostages still in the restaurant was not clear, Mizanur Rahman Bhuiyan, a deputy director at the Rapid Action Battalion force, told Reuters.

The ISIS group claimed responsibility for the attack on the Holey Artisan Bakery in Dhaka's Gulshan area, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors jihadis activity online.
 Bangladesh did not immediately respond to the claim of responsibility by ISIS, but in the past have denied that the extremist group has a presence in the country. The US State Department said it had seen the ISIS claim, but could not confirm its authenticity.

Gowher Rizvi, an adviser to Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, told Reuters that security forces had tried to negotiate a way out of the crisis.

Police said the gunmen attacked the upscale Holey Artisan restaurant in the Gulshan district of Dhaka, popular with expatriates, in an assault that began around 9 p.m local time on Friday.
 The attack marks an escalation in the growing drumbeat of terrorist violence to hit the traditionally moderate Muslim-majority nation in the past three years, but with increasing frequency in recent months. Most attacks have been by machete-wielding men singling out individual activists, foreigners and religious minorities.

The assailants exchanged sporadic gunfire with police outside for several hours after the attack but no gunshots had been heard from inside the restaurant since early Saturday morning, said Mizanur Rahman Bhuiyan, a deputy director at the Rapid Action Battalion force.

About six Italian are reportedly among the hostages, said a duty officer at Rapid Action Battalion's (RAB) control room.

Italy's ambassador to Bangladesh, Mario Palma, told Italian state TV seven Italians 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.

The hostage crisis marks an escalation from a recent spate of murders claimed by Islamic State and al Qaeda on liberals, gays, foreigners and religious minorities, and could deal a major blow to the country's vital $25 billion garment sector.

Last year, several Western retailers temporarily halted visits to Dhaka following the killing of two foreigners.