Japan PM Abe outraged, vows ‘utmost efforts’ to shed light on Dhaka terror attack

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has said that the Dhaka terror attack was an “impermissible act of terrorism and I am profoundly outraged.”

In a statement, on Sunday, he termed the deaths of seven Japanese in Friday night’s unprecedented attack on a Gulshan café “a truly regrettable outcome”.

“All of those who lost their lives had gone to Bangladesh in the spirit of wanting to work for the good of that country,” he said.

He vowed to continue to take all possible preparations to ensure the safety of Japanese citizens both at home and abroad.

“In order to do so, we will devote our utmost efforts to shed light on this incident,” he said. “As such, I also intend for us to act in close coordination and communication with the government of Bangladesh.”

Referring to the UN Security Council statement, he said: “We intend to work in cooperation with the international community in order to root out terrorism”.

The prime minister prayed for the salvation of the departed souls and extended his condolences to the families of the victims and said: “This matter truly grieves me deeply and I am rendered speechless thinking of the victims.”

“We will prepare a governmental aircraft to assist the families of the victims in arriving at the scene of the incident as quickly as possible.

“Just now, I was in contact with State Minister for Foreign Affairs Mr. Seiji Kihara, who has arrived in Bangladesh.

“I instructed him to receive the bereaved family members and interact with the Bangladesh side in accordance with the requests of the families to the greatest possible extent.

“At any rate, although I am entirely speechless when I think of how the bereaved family members must be feeling, I wish to respond to this incident in the spirit of doing everything possible while keeping the sensitivities of the family members firmly in mind,” read the statement.