Bangladesh PM Hasina says 13 hostages rescued alive from Gulshan café

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said that 13 hostages have been rescued alive from the café in Gulshan-2 that was attacked by armed gunmen on Friday night.

The 12-hour-long hostage crisis at the restaurant popular with foreigners ended around 8:30am on Saturday after an hour long assault by armed forces’ commandos.

Hasina said, “Six gunmen have been killed on the spot during the raid. Another of them has been captured alive.”

That raises possibility of a major intelligence breakthrough into the ongoing radical violence in the country.

The prime minister was speaking at a programme in the morning hours after the operation ended the hostage crisis at the city diplomatic zone.

She described the incident as a ‘militant attack’. “We have rescued 13 of the hostages alive, but some have been killed. Some of the injured have been admitted to CMH (Combined Military Hospital).”

The crisis had started around 8:45pm on Friday at the Holey Artisan Bakery and O Kitchen in Road No. 79 near Gulshan-2 when eight to 10 men, armed with firearms and bombs, raided the cafe.

With around 20-22 guests, including foreigners, trapped inside, police moved in soon. They pulled back after two police officers were killed in the exchange of fire.

On Saturday morning, security forces stormed the café and ended the siege, after gunning down the attackers and rescuing the hostages.

The prime minister thanked all security personnel involved in the ‘successful’ raid. She also congratulated the First Para-commando Battalion of the armed forces who led the operation.

Later in the afternoon, a Bangladesh Army spokesperson said 20 foreign hostages were killed by the gunmen late Friday night, hours before the rescue operation was launched.​

“We have found 20 bodies and all of them were murdered in the night using sharp weapons,” Brigadier General Nayeem Ashfaq Chowdhury told a media briefing.

He said that 13 people, including a Japanese and two Sri Lankans, were rescued from the restaurant after commandos stormed it at 7:40am on Saturday.