Dhaka Gunmen Battle with Police
Dhaka Gunmen Battle with Police
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DHAKA - Up to sixty people have been taken hostage by armed gunmen at a cafe in the diplomatic zone of Bangladesh's capital, Dhaka.
One police officer has been reported dead, after nine attackers, armed with firearms and bombs sieged the Holey Artisan Bakery at around 9:20pm local time, taking customers and staff hostage at gunpoint.
Bangladesh's police chief has confirmed that several foreigners are among the hostages .
Gunmen are holding the hostages at Holey Artisan Bakery, a cafe popular with expats. Cafe owner, Sumon Reza told CNN, he managed to escape as six to eight gunmen entered the cafe.
As police surrounded the restaurant in the upmarket Gulshan area, a gun battle ensued which left three officers wounded. The attackers, believed to be in their early 20s, are reported to have thrown home-made grenades at the police as they exchanged gunfire.
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According to a Bangladeshi TV station, eyewitnesses at the scene reported that the gunmen chanted "Allahu Akbar" as they entered the bakery.
Farzana Azim, who lives nearby, says she heard explosions outside her home.
"We heard the first bomb blast at 8:30 in the evening," Azim said. At first she thought it was the sound of a plane, but a few minutes later another blast echoed through the neighborhood of Gulshan. Within a half hour, the gunshots started, she said.
A staff worker atthe restaurant told Bangladeshi newspaper The Daily Star: "They blasted several crude bombs, causing wide-scale panic among everyone.'I managed to flee during this confusion. They came armed with pistols, swords and bombs. They shouted Allahu Akbar [God is great] before blasting the bombs."
A spokesman for the US State Department said that all Americans working at the US mission in Dhaka, which is one mile from the scene of the shooting, have been accounted for, but urged citizens to shelter in place, Sky News reports.
The officer killed in the attack has been identified as local police station chief, Mohammed Salahuddin, The Guardian reports.
"Police and security forces have sealed off the area and are trying to negotiate the hostages's release. Some derailed youths have entered the restaurant and launched the attack," police official Gen. Benzir Ahmed told the BBC.
"We want to resolve this peacefully. We are trying to talk to the attackers... Our first priority is to save the lives of the people trapped inside."
The attack comes on the same day a Hindu priest was hacked to death at his temple in Bangladesh's southwestern district of Jhenaidah early Friday, police said. There have been a string of recent attacks on religious minorities and secular activists by suspected Islamist militants in the country.
Police reported, the hostage situation is "still fluid".
US Embassy in Dhaka warned of the situation on Twitter, advising people to shelter in place and noting that a hostage situation had been reported. Later, the embassy advised it had accounted for all of the American citizens working under the chief of the mission authority.
One police officer has been reported dead, after nine attackers, armed with firearms and bombs sieged the Holey Artisan Bakery at around 9:20pm local time, taking customers and staff hostage at gunpoint.
Bangladesh's police chief has confirmed that several foreigners are among the hostages .
Gunmen are holding the hostages at Holey Artisan Bakery, a cafe popular with expats. Cafe owner, Sumon Reza told CNN, he managed to escape as six to eight gunmen entered the cafe.
As police surrounded the restaurant in the upmarket Gulshan area, a gun battle ensued which left three officers wounded. The attackers, believed to be in their early 20s, are reported to have thrown home-made grenades at the police as they exchanged gunfire.
According to a Bangladeshi TV station, eyewitnesses at the scene reported that the gunmen chanted "Allahu Akbar" as they entered the bakery.
Farzana Azim, who lives nearby, says she heard explosions outside her home.
"We heard the first bomb blast at 8:30 in the evening," Azim said. At first she thought it was the sound of a plane, but a few minutes later another blast echoed through the neighborhood of Gulshan. Within a half hour, the gunshots started, she said.
A staff worker atthe restaurant told Bangladeshi newspaper The Daily Star: "They blasted several crude bombs, causing wide-scale panic among everyone.'I managed to flee during this confusion. They came armed with pistols, swords and bombs. They shouted Allahu Akbar [God is great] before blasting the bombs."
A spokesman for the US State Department said that all Americans working at the US mission in Dhaka, which is one mile from the scene of the shooting, have been accounted for, but urged citizens to shelter in place, Sky News reports.
The officer killed in the attack has been identified as local police station chief, Mohammed Salahuddin, The Guardian reports.
"Police and security forces have sealed off the area and are trying to negotiate the hostages's release. Some derailed youths have entered the restaurant and launched the attack," police official Gen. Benzir Ahmed told the BBC.
"We want to resolve this peacefully. We are trying to talk to the attackers... Our first priority is to save the lives of the people trapped inside."
The attack comes on the same day a Hindu priest was hacked to death at his temple in Bangladesh's southwestern district of Jhenaidah early Friday, police said. There have been a string of recent attacks on religious minorities and secular activists by suspected Islamist militants in the country.
Police reported, the hostage situation is "still fluid".
US Embassy in Dhaka warned of the situation on Twitter, advising people to shelter in place and noting that a hostage situation had been reported. Later, the embassy advised it had accounted for all of the American citizens working under the chief of the mission authority.
(rnz)
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