Bangladesh mourns Dhaka cafe victims, police try to confirm ID of killers

<span data-style="font-size: 15.6px; line-height: 22px; color: #262626; font-family: Roboto;">Two people were arrested for the assault on a popular cafe in Dhaka’s diplomatic quarter, as authorities stepped up probe into the international links of the hostage-takers.

<span data-style="font-size: 15.6px; line-height: 22px;">Inspector general of police (IGP) AKM Shahidul Haque did not disclose the identities of either of the detainees or where they were being kept.

<span data-style="font-size: 15.6px; line-height: 22px;">He said they were both physically unwell and will be quizzed after their condition improves. “One of them is in hospital, the other is in custody,” he said.

<span data-style="font-size: 15.6px; line-height: 22px;">Islamic State posted pictures of five fighters it said were involved in Friday’s killings; most of the victims from Italy, Japan, India and the United States.

<span data-style="font-size: 15.6px; line-height: 22px;">“Let the people of the crusader countries know that there is no safety for them as long as their aircraft are killing Muslims,” it said in a statement.

<span data-style="font-size: 15.6px; line-height: 22px;">Killed within 20 minutes

<span data-style="font-size: 15.6px; line-height: 22px;">The attackers slaughtered all the 20 hostages within 20 minutes of the brazen assault, inspector general Haque said, rejecting allegations by the media that police delayed the rescue operation.

<span data-style="font-size: 15.6px; line-height: 22px;">“Many media are reporting that we had delayed the rescue mission but we did not. We completed the mission within 12 hours while countries like Kenya took four days to fight similar incident at one of their shopping malls.”

<span data-style="font-size: 15.6px; line-height: 22px;">Who are the attackers

<span data-style="font-size: 15.6px; line-height: 22px;">Posts on Facebook identified three of the five, whose grinning images appeared in front of a black flag, as Nibras Islam, Rohan Imtiaz and Meer Saameh Mubasheer.

<span data-style="font-size: 15.6px; line-height: 22px;">Police have said all six gunmen killed were locals and five were on a government militant watchlist. But they also said they were holding off before confirming their identities.

<span data-style="font-size: 15.6px; line-height: 22px;">Whoever was responsible, Friday’s attack marked a major escalation in scale and brutality by militants demanding Islamic rule in Bangladesh, whose 160 million people are mostly Muslim.

<span data-style="font-size: 15.6px; line-height: 22px;">Some of the men went to an elite public school in Dhaka, Scholastic, and then college at North South University in the capital and Monash University in Malaysia, according to the posts. Police said officers were probing those links.

<span data-style="font-size: 15.6px; line-height: 22px;">“They are all highly educated young men and from well-off families,” Home minister Asaduzzaman Khan said. Asked why they would have become jihadists, Khan said: “It has become a fashion.”

<span data-style="font-size: 15.6px; line-height: 22px;">Police arrested a seventh man at the restaurant who they suspect played a role in the attack. He is currently in hospital.