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The attackers stormed a popular cafe in the capital city of Dhaka, engaging in a firefight with police.Video provided by Newsy Newslook
Bangladeshi security officers stand guard near a restaurant attacked by unidentified gunmen in the early hours of July 2, 2016 in Dhaka, Bangladesh.(Photo: Mahmud Hossain Opu/Getty Images)
The Islamic State terror group<span style="color: Red;">*</span>claimed responsibility for<span style="color: Red;">*</span>a hostage takeover Friday at a restaurant popular with foreigners<span style="color: Red;">*</span>in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, that left at least two police officers dead.
The militants' Amaq News Agency also said the attack by "Islamic State commandos" killed<span style="color: Red;">*</span>24<span style="color: Red;">*</span>people,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>according to SITE Intelligence Group, a U.S.-based organization that monitors extremist activity online. The death toll could not be immediately<span style="color: Red;">*</span>confirmed.
As of 6:35 p.m. ET, the hostage situation was still ongoing.
Friday’s attack at the Holey Artisan Bakery<span style="color: Red;">*</span>in the city's upscale diplomatic zone<span style="color: Red;">*</span>comes the same day as ISIL<span style="color: Red;">*</span>said one of its operatives hacked to death<span style="color: Red;">*</span>a<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Hindu temple worker in<span style="color: Red;">*</span>the latest in a series of grisly killings that have rattled the country in the past few years. The group also claimed it killed a Buddhist on Friday, SITE reported.
At<span style="color: Red;">*</span>least two police officers were killed at<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Holey Artisan Bakery<span style="color: Red;">*</span>after some<span style="color: Red;">*</span>nine gunmen burst into the bakery that adjoins the<span style="color: Red;">*</span>O'Kitchen restaurant late Friday and took at<span style="color: Red;">*</span>least 20 people hostage,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>according to local media and police.
Reports of shooting and hostage situation in Gulshan 2, Dhaka. Please shelter in place and monitor news.
— U.S. Embassy Dhaka (@usembassydhaka) July 1, 2016
The U.S. State Department reported<span style="color: Red;">*</span>a<span style="color: Red;">*</span>"hostage situation" at the location. In Washington, State Department spokesman John Kirby<span style="color: Red;">*</span>said there was "100% accountability" of Americans working at the embassy, but he would not elaborate on whether all<span style="color: Red;">*</span>were out of harm's way.
The<span style="color: Red;">*</span>two police officers were killed in the exchange of gunfire with the assailants.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Assistant Commissioner of Ramna Division Shibly Noman told<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Dhaka Tribune<span style="color: Red;">*</span>that<span style="color: Red;">*</span>a police officer at the scene,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Salahuddin Ahmed, was<span style="color: Red;">*</span>killed.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Rabiul Islam, assistant commissioner of Detective Branch of Police, also died of<span style="color: Red;">*</span>injuries at United Hospital, Deputy Commissioner of DB Nazmul Hasan confirmed, according to the paper.
At least 24 police officers were reported injured, including one in critical condition, the newspaper said.
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Sumon Reza, a<span style="color: Red;">*</span>supervisor at the bakery, said the gunmen were<span style="color: Red;">*</span>armed with small<span style="color: Red;">*</span>firearms and a sharp weapon, Dhaka Tribune reported. Local reports said the terrorists tossed grenades at police who besieged the building.
Reza<span style="color: Red;">*</span>said the gunmen, described as being under<span style="color: Red;">*</span>30,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>shouted "Allah Akbar (God is great)" when they entered the restaurant.
A huge contingent of security guards cordoned off the area around the restaurant, trading gunfire with the attackers who set off bombs and exchanged gunfire with the security forces.
“Some derailed youths have entered the restaurant and launched the attack,” Benazir Ahmed, the head of the elite anti-crime force, Rapid Action Battalion, or RAB, told reporters. “We have talked to some of the people who fled the restaurant after the attack. We want to resolve this peacefully. We are trying to talk to the attackers, we want to listen to them about what they want.”
Dhaka residents told USA TODAY that<span style="color: Red;">*</span>attack rattled them.
Abdul Rashid, a 23-year-old engineering student, was shocked that anyone would dare stage such a daring assault in an affluent residential area where the city's best restaurants and shopping often attract foreigners.
"This is for the first time in the history of our country that we are witnessing such terror,” Rashid said.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>“This is something very unexpected for the Bangladeshis. What used to be a rather peaceful country is now looking at more radical side of it.”
But others noted that the terror appears to be an escalation of violence in a wave of<span style="color: Red;">*</span>incidents that has taken place in the South Asian country recently.
“Rampant attacks on bloggers, liberal<span style="color: Red;">*</span>intellectuals and minority Hindus and Christians suggest that the Islamic fundamentalists have penetrated society,” said Salma Muktadir, 34, an ad agency copywriter in Dhaka.
Muktadir<span style="color: Red;">*</span>felt the attacks would undermine the credibility of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina
"There is a sense of fear in Dhaka right now," she<span style="color: Red;">*</span>said. <span style="color: Red;">*</span>"People fear for their future. The attack in such a high-security zone has left many people questioning the ability of the current government. The government of Sheikh Hasina has been weak and clueless."
The assault on the restaurant comes amid dozens of murders,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>often by hacking but sometimes by shooting, that are part of a wave of violence mostly targeting writers, activists, foreigners and religious minorities in the Muslim-majority country.
Over the past 18 months, 48 killings have been blamed on Islamic militants, with more than half claimed by the Islamic State, according to SITE.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Al-Qaeda claimed responsibility for most of the others.
USA TODAY
Brutal killings target Bangladesh religious minorities
The Al-Qaeda-linked Ansar-al-Islam group claimed responsibility for the April killing of a U.S. government employee, an editor of an LGBT magazine, after he was hacked to death in Dhaka. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for last month's hacking death of a Hindu priest, a Hindu monastery worker and a Christian grocer.
The government insists neither the Islamic State nor<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Al-Qaeda<span style="color: Red;">*</span>have a foothold in Bangladesh, instead blaming homegrown militants. Last month, it began a nationwide crackdown on the incidents, arresting thousands of people after the number of attacks increased.
Contributing: Naila Inayat reporting from Lahore, Pakistan
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