Dhaka: As diners relaxed for their evening meal on one of the last days of Ramzan, the gunmen burst into the restaurant before separating foreigners from locals so they could launch their killing spree.
By the time Bangladeshi commandos stormed Dhaka’s Holey Artisan Bakery 11 hours later, its stone-washed white floors were a sea of blood, strewn with the bodies of foreigners who had been hacked to death.
“Most of (the hostages) were killed mercilessly by sharp weapons,” Army Brigadier General Naim Asraf Chowdhury told a news conference.
The Western-style cafe was a popular bolt-hole for expats and locals in the upmarket Gulshan neighbourhood which has long been home to the country’s wealthy elite and many embassies.
On Friday night, Hasnat Karim had brought his family to celebrate his daughter’s birthday. Hasnat was too traumatised to say more than a few words about his ordeal, saying only that the hostage-takers “did not misbehave with us”.
But he detailed to his father Rezaul how the gunmen — who were armed with automatic weapons, bombs and makeshift machetes — had split the diners into two groups. “(The foreigners) were taken to the upper floor and the Bangladeshis were kept around a table,” said Rezaul Karim.
In the chaos and confusion that erupted at the start, many diners at the cafe were able to scramble to safety. One man who escaped told a news channel how the gunmen chanted slogans as they forced their way past the sole security guard on the door. “I rushed to alert others, some people managed to escape from a back route but the rest were trapped,” he said on condition of anonymity.
“They made people stand in a line. There must be about 20-25 staff and about 20-25 guests and then they switched off the lights and CCTV.”
Infographic
‘Pools of blood’
Bangladesh, where around 90 per cent of the population is Muslim, has just begun a week-long holiday to enjoy the Id celebrations which accompany the end of Ramzan.
As news of the siege spread, police rushed to the scene and engaged in gunbattles with the hostage-takers but they met heavy resistance.
“(The hostage-takers) had automatic weapons and bombs,” said Diego Rossini, an Argentinian chef who escaped into a neighbouring building. Rossini managed to escape into a next-door building while under fire.
“I felt bullets pass so close to me, I felt fear like I’ve never felt in my life.” Images posted by the Islamic State group as they claimed the attack showed two bodies soaked in pools of crimson.
A senior army officer said that all 20 of the slaughtered civilians were foreigners and nearly all were hacked to death with makeshift machetes. Several people have been attacked in similar fashion by Islamist extremists in the last two years, mainly members of religious minorities.
