Chef of Dhaka cafe among dead gunmen: Family

The family of a man, whose photo police have released as one of the Gulshan gunmen killed in rescue offensive, have claimed he was not a militant.

They have identified the person as Saiful Islam Chowkider, a chef in the Holey Artisan Bakery, the cafe that came under attack on Friday evening.

The photos released by police show Saiful wearing a white chef apron, creating confusion over police claims.

After commandos rescued 13 people in a raid on the cafe on Saturday morning, ending a 12-hour hostage drama, the Army said six attackers had been killed and another was captured alive.     

The commandos also found 20 slaughtered bodies, most of foreigners. Two policemen were killed on Friday evening when they tried to enter the cafe.

The Middle East-based error outfit Islamic State had reportedly released photos of the victims when the hostage situation was under way. It had later published photos of the five gunmen.

Within an hour of the ‘IS publication’, police released the pictures of five bodies on Saturday night.

Four persons had appeared in both sets of the photos.

Now, a family at Narhia in Shariatpur is claiming the other person is Saiful.

On Sunday, Saiful’s wife Sonia Akter, who seventh months into  pregnancy, said she spoke to her husband for the last time on Friday afternoon. She had found his phone switched off later on.

His mother Samera Begum said Saiful was scheduled to return home during the Eid holidays.

The photo released by police shows a dead body wearing a white chef apron.

They said Saiful joined Holey Artisan Bakery as a pizza maker one and a half years ago, having worked in Germany for 10 years.

Narhia Upazila Executive Officer Shamsul Haque told bdnews24.com that he did not know whether anyone from his area died in the Gulshan carnage.

A combination photo of an elderly woman holding a mobile phone displaying the picture of a man, wearing a chef’s attire, and the dead attacker’s picture has appeared on Facebook.

An employee of cafe told bdnews24.com that the picture of the dead attacker wearing a white shirt resembles his colleague Saiful whose Mini Pizza was popular dish.

None of the photos ‘released by IS’ seem to be of Saiful. group also reportedly renamed them.

Police have identified five of the six attackers as ‘Akash’, ‘Bikash’, ‘Don’, ‘Bandhon’, and ‘Ripon’.