Intense gunfire and loud explosions rang out Saturday morning as Bangladesh security forces backed by armored vehicles moved to end a long standoff with heavily armed militants holding dozens of people hostage at an upscale restaurant in Bangladesh, according to multiple media reports.
The Islamic State terror group claimed responsibility for a hostage takeover Friday at a restaurant popular with foreigners in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, that left at least two police officers dead at Holey Artisan Bakery. Some nine gunmen burst into the bakery that adjoins the O'Kitchen restaurant late Friday and took at least 20 people hostage, according to local media and police.
The militants' Amaq News Agency also said the attack by "Islamic State commandos" killed 24 people, according to SITE Intelligence Group, a U.S.-based organization that monitors extremist activity online. The death toll could not be immediately confirmed and Reuters reported security officials denied the report of 24 dead.
Eight to nine gunmen stormed the restaurant, Reuters reported, attributing this to police.
As of 7:55 p.m. ET, the hostage situation was still ongoing, but Reuters reported gunfire had stopped. Security forces were trying to negotiate and end to the situation, Gowher Rivzi, an adviser to Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, told Reuters.
Friday’s attack at the Holey Artisan Bakery in the city's upscale diplomatic zone comes the same day as ISIL said one of its operatives hacked to death a Hindu temple worker in 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.
The U.S. State Department reported a "hostage situation" at the location. In Washington, State Department spokesman John Kirby said there was "100% accountability" of Americans working at the embassy, but he would not elaborate on whether all were out of harm's way.
The two police officers were killed in the exchange of gunfire with the assailants. Assistant Commissioner of Ramna Division Shibly Noman told Dhaka Tribune that a police officer at the scene, Salahuddin Ahmed, was killed. Rabiul Islam, assistant commissioner of Detective Branch of Police, also died of 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.
Sumon Reza, a supervisor at the bakery, said the gunmen were armed with small firearms and a sharp weapon, Dhaka Tribune reported. Local reports said the terrorists tossed grenades at police who besieged the building.
Reza said the gunmen, described as being under 30, 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 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. “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 incidents that has taken place in the South Asian country recently.
“Rampant attacks on bloggers, liberal 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 felt the attacks would undermine the credibility of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina
"There is a sense of fear in Dhaka right now," she said. "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, 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. Al-Qaeda claimed responsibility for most of the others.
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 Al-Qaeda 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 and The Associated Press.
