Rescue operation begins after 10 hours
Members of the navy, paramilitary, law enforcing agencies started the commando operation at Holey Artisan Bakery at Gulshan in Dhaka on Saturday morning, almost 10 hours after the attack in which at least two senior police officials were killed and scores injured.
Joint forces of Bangladesh Army, police, Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), paramilitary Border Guard Bangladesh, navy commandos and special force SWAT started the operation around 7:30am.
Witnesses said enormous gunshots were heard from the scene after the operation began.
Newsmen were taken away to a safe distance seven armed vehicles of Bangladesh Army took position in the area after 7:00am.
Earlier, Inspector General of Police (IGP) AKM Shahidul Haque arrived at the scene around 6:00am.
Two senior police officials- polices Detective Branch assistant commissioner Rabiul Islam and Banani police station officer-in-charge Salahuddin- were killed in the shooting by the gun-wielding hostage-takers and about 50 others injured in the exchange of gunshots between the law enforcers and the gunmen.
UNB reported that at least 50 of the injured, including additional deputy commissioners of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Sheikh M Maruf Hasan and Ahad, were rushed to the United Hospital.
Three other injured -- constables Alamgir, 26, and Pradip, 28, and Abdur Razzak, a microbus driver -- were taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital.
A group of youths numbering eight to nine and aged between 20 and 28 stormed the restaurant in the diplomatic zone of Dhaka around 8:30pm in the evening, firing gunshots and charging bombs.
Witnesses said the gunmen were carrying swords and chanting ‘Allahu-Akbar’ while storming the restaurant.
It is believed that over 50 customers, including at least 20 foreigners were inside the Holey Artisan Bakery on Road 79, which is popular with foreigners.
According to different news agencies, the hostages include nationals of Italy, India and Argentina.
The SITE Intelligence Group has tweeted that the Islamic State in Iraq and Levant (ISIS) claimed the responsibility for the Dhaka restaurant hostage in which at least two police officers were killed and scores injured.
As several members of law enforcers sustained bullet wounds during the first attempt to free the hostages, RAB’s director general Benazir Ahmed said the authorities would be trying to end the Gulshan restaurant hostage crisis “peacefully”, by holding talks with the gunmen.
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