DHAKA – The Bangladesh police said one of the men they had shot dead during the siege of a Dhaka cafe may have been a hostage killed by mistake. The police identified five Bangladeshi gunmen who stormed the restaurant in Dhaka’s diplomatic zone late on Friday. Most of the victims were foreigners from Italy, Japan, India and the US.
Pictures of five young men clutching guns and grinning in front of a black flag were posted on an Islamic State website hours after the attack, along with the claim of responsibility, but the authorities have ruled out a foreign link.
The police believe that Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh, an outlawed domestic group that pledged allegiance to IS, played a significant role in organising the band of privileged, educated young attackers.
Confusion over exactly how many gunmen were involved was partly cleared when the police said among the six persons killed by security personnel when they stormed the cafe building to end a 12-hour standoff was Saiful Islam Chowkidar, a pizza maker at the Holey Artisan restaurant.
“We killed six people in the restaurant. A case has been registered against five. The sixth man was a restaurant employee,” Saiful Islam, an official investigating the attack said. “He may not be involved,” he said, adding that the investigation was on.
