Bangladesh suspects Pak ISI role, PM Hasina vows to trace roots of culprits
Dhaka: Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday vowed to trace the "roots" of the culprits who supplied weapons and explosives to the terrorists who killed 20 people, mostly foreigners, in a barbaric attack on a café in Dhaka.
Her remarks came during a meeting with Japan's State Minister of Foreign Affairs Seiji Kihara at her official residence Ganabhaban.
Read: A timeline of the weekend hostage crisis in Bangladesh
"Describing the terror attack at Gulshan cafe as unfortunate, The Prime Minister said we must find out the roots of the culprits who supplied weapons and explosives to the terrorists for the barbaric attack," Ihsanul Karim, press secretary to the PM, told the media after the meeting.
HT Imam, who is the political advisor to Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday said that the attack seemed to be the handiwork of a local banned terror group called Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen that has links to the Pakistani spy agency.
Read: A timeline of the weekend hostage crisis in Bangladesh
"Pakistan's ISI and Jamaat connection is well known...they want to derail the current government, all victims were hacked to death like Jamaat and local terror groups do," said Imam.
Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan had earlier ruled out the role of Islamic State in the attack and said the jihadists who slaughtered hostages at the Dhaka restaurant were members of the homegrown Bangladeshi militant outfit named by Imam.
Read: Bangladesh terror attack: Hostages asked to recite verses from Quran
Holey Artisan Bakery in Dhaka's upscale diplomatic zone came under attack on Friday evening by gunmen. Seven Japanese nationals were among 20 killed during the attack.
Six of the seven Japanese killed in the terror strike were surveyors for Dhaka’s Metrorail project. The Japanese government has sent the minister to Dhaka after the attack.
Read: 20 killed, 6 ISIS terrorists shot dead in Bangladesh hostage crisis
The assailants killed two police officers, who tried to enter the cafe, to break the siege.
Army commandos stormed the eatery yesterday and rescued 13 hostages, killing six attackers while capturing one alive. The Army said 20 people were found dead on the premises during the raid, all possibly slaughtered late on Friday, hours before the commandos raided the cafe.
It has been confirmed that the hostages killed included nine Italians, seven Japanese and an Indian. Three Bangladeshis were also among the dead and one of them was a US citizen.
