How has nobody written a diary about this yet?? This has been the top breaking news story for most of the day.
Local media reported that gunmen had entered the Holey Artisan Bakery cafe and opened fire at around 9.20pm on Friday. They also reported as many as 20 people taken hostage, and that as many as 40 people in all were injured.
Mohammad Jasimuddin, a member of the kitchen staff, was inside the restaurant when the gunmen stormed in. “There were about 50 to 60 staff inside. These people came and opened fire. We thought they were dacoits [bandits] and would leave after looting money and valuables,” he said.
“I heard them screaming Allahu Akbar [God is great] and firing shots,” he told the Guardian. “We thought they’d leave in 15 to 20 minutes, instead they went upstairs to the second floor [that was] under construction. They were firing from there.” He said that he and other employees jumped over barbed wire fences to escape. He estimated there were about 25 to 30 customers inside at the time.
A police constable named Kamruzzaman told the Guardian that the gunmen threw explosives from the second floor. “We reached the spot of attack within seven minutes of the incident taking place,” he said. “They opened fire from there, we fired back.
“We tried to rescue a civilian but they shot him down. He was lying by the lakeside close to the restaurant,” Kamruzzaman added. “We didn’t know they had grenades in possession.”
A local police station chief, Mohammed Salahuddin, was killed in the gunfight along with one other officer, confirmed Ashraful Karim, the assistant police commissioner and Salahuddin’s immediate superior.
The Bangladesh military is storming the cafe RIGHT NOW. Reports are 5 hostages were rescued. But there were a LOT more than 5 hostages. ISIS has already taken responsibility and was sending out photographs on social media of dead hostages.
Fuck.
Update: Reports are that 5 of the attackers were killed, 1 was captured alive, and 2 are MISSING. Uh-oh.
34 victims have been taken to the hospital. Unclear on the number of hostages killed.
Update II: Now police are saying ALL of the terrorists were killed.
Some more news sources following the story:
CNN
ABC News
BuzzFeed
Washington Post
New York Times
NBC News:
Police near the scene confirmed to NBC News Saturday morning the operation was over, and according to police Rapid Action Battalion personnel on the scene all the attackers have been killed.
There were conflicting reports about the rescue of hostages. A Japanese government spokesperson said its ambassador was told by police 12 hostages were rescued, and of those two are foreigners. Japan had said it was possible its citizens were among those trapped but had not confirmed that.
Update III: Shit, 20 hostages killed. And they were tortured first before being murdered.