DHAKA:
Bangladesh security forces ended a siege Saturday after storming a cafe in
Dhaka where dozens of diners had been held captive through the night and shot
dead six of the hostage-takers.
Police
said at least 13 hostages, including three foreigners, had been rescued after
commandos took control of the cafe in the upmarket Gulshan quarter but added
that there had been an unknown number of casualties.
The
Islamic State organisation claimed responsibility for the attack which follows
a series of gruesome killings of religious minorities, foreigners and liberal
activists in the mainly Muslim nation.
"The
operation is over. The situation is completely under control," army
spokesman Colonel Rashidul Hasan told AFP.
Two police officers were also
killed at the start of the siege as they battled the hostage-takers who were
heavily armed with explosives.
Tuhin Mohammad Masud, a commander
of the elite Rapid Action Battalion which led the storming operation, said the
cafe itself had been cleared but added that some of the hostage-takers might
still be at large.
"We
have gunned down six of the terrorists" Masud told India´s Times Now
television channel.
"The
main area that they have been occupying has been cleared... Maybe some of them
have escaped into a larger area."
There
was no official word on the number of hostages who had been killed or wounded
but Masud said that "obviously there have been casualties".
An AFP
photographer at the scene said he could hear a massive gunfight as security
forces launched the rescue operation more than 10 hours after militants seized
the hostages on Friday night.
Eight
hostages including a foreigner were rescued in the first few minutes of the
operation, a senior security official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
TV
footage showed ambulances rushing some of those who had been rescued to a
military hospital.
Sri
Lanka's government said two of its nationals were among the hostages rescued
and were safe and unharmed.
The
Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack on the Holey Artisan
Bakery cafe in Gulshan which is Dhaka´s wealthiest neighbourhood and home to
many embassies.
Police
said the gunmen burst into the restaurant shouting "Allahu Akbar"
(God is Greater) as people were having dinner at around 9:20 pm and set off
explosives.
Italy's
ambassador Mario Palma told Italian state television seven Italians were among
the hostages. Japan said some of its nationals may also have been among the
captives.
Some
diners managed to escape including an Argentine chef and a Bangladeshi man who
took refuge in an adjacent building.
Whole
building was shaking
Some
managed to speak to relatives by phone, reporting there were up to 40 people
trapped inside, around half of them foreigners.
Another
had told relatives he feared they would be killed if police tried to storm the
restaurant to end the siege.
"He
is very nervous," the man's uncle, who had spoken to him by phone, told
AFP.
The
restaurant´s supervisor Sumon Reza who escaped by jumping from the roof told a
local newspaper there were 20 foreigners being held hostage.
"I
was in the roof. The whole building was shaking when they set off
explosives," he said.
Bangladesh
has been reeling from a wave of murders of religious minorities and secular
activists by suspected Islamist militants.
But
those murders generally only involved a handful of assailants while the latest
attack appears to have been on a much bigger scale and the first time that
people were held hostage.