terror attack on gulshan cafe
Probe starts
2 militants in custody; parents of one attacker held
Staff Reporter
Two suspected militants, involved in the deadly attack at a Gulshan caf that left 28 people dead, are in police custody, Inspector General of Police AKM Shahidul Haque said yesterday. The parents of Khairul Islam, one of the terrorists who took part in the attack on Holey Artisan Bakery at Gulshan in the capital, were detained from Shajahanpur upazila of Bogra as police started probe into the deadliest terror attack of the country.
Two suspected militants involved in the Holey Artisan Bakery restaurant attack on Friday night are currently in police custody, and they are being treated in hospital, IGP Shahidul Haque told journalists without disclosing further details. Asked when they will be grilled, the police chief said investigators would interrogate them after their treatment is over.
Asked about legal steps on the gruesome killings, Haque said a case would be filed with Gulshan Police Station.
Deputy Commissioner (Media) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police Masudur Rahman later told reporters that police filed a case with the Gulshan Police Station under the Anti-Terrorism Act against the five slain militants and several unidentified people yesterday night in connection with the heinous attack in Gulshan.
Our Bogra Correspondent Mahfuz Mondal adds: Bogra police has detained parents of Khairul Islam, one of the terrorists who took part in the attack on the restaurant in Gulshan in Dhaka. They were identified as day labourer Abu Hossen, Khairuls father, and Piara Begum, his mother, of village Bri-Kustia in Shajahanpur upazila of Bogra district. The police said they had been searching for him for a long time. Family source said Khairul is elder son between the two daughters of his parents.
Local sources said Khairul studied in Darul Hadid Saladia Kowmi Madrasha in Sajahanpur upazila of Bogra. Later, he passed Dakhil from the nearest Bihigram DU central Dakhil Madrasha.
Md Sajahan Ali, local union parishad member, said locals and his parents recognised Khairul after seeing his photo in the media. On the night of July 3, a team of the Detective Branch (DB), Bogra, reached Khairuls house in Bri-Kustia village and demanded to see Khairuls photo from his parents. The delivered image coincided with the photo at the DB teams disposal. Then, the team detained Khairuls parents.
Peara Begum said to police that theior son had gone missing one year ago. But they did not file a General Dairy (GD) with the local police station in this connection. They wanted to publish a lost notification in local daily, but eventually refrained from doing so.
The DB of Dhaka Metropolitan Police yesterday raided the Banani residence of North South University teacher Hasnat H Karim, who was rescued from the restaurant where the militants carried out deadly attacks. The DB also seized a laptop and some other documents from the house.
Hasnat H Karim, son of Rezaul Karim, is the owner of Basic Engineering located at Banani. He was a teacher of NSU who taught business communication.
DMP deputy commissioner Masudur Rahman told that Hasnat is currently under DB custody.
Meanwhile, family members of the seven slain Japanese nationals yesterday visited the Combined Military Hospital (CMH) to see the bodies of their beloved ones. Japans state minister for foreign affairs, Seiji Kihara, accompanied them.
On condition of anonymity, a military official said the bodies of foreign nationals have been kept at the Combined Military Hospital. The Japanese government will take the bodies of their nationals by a special flight to Tokyo today (Tuesday) morning, he added.
On Sunday night, an Air Self-defence Force jet of Japan arrived in the capital, carrying 18 relatives of the victims, members of the international counter-terrorism intelligence collection unit, emergency response team of the foreign ministry, members of the consular affairs bureau of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), press relations experts and medical officers.
According to officials, the Japanese minister and Bangladeshs state minister for foreign affairs, Md Shahriar Alam, met the families and consoled them throughout the night.
A Korean national, DK Hwang, uploaded a series of videos in his facebook timeline, which were captured during Operation Thunderbolt by the Bangladesh Army. These video clips have gone viral in social media. They show that a bald-headed person smoking in front of two attackers at the second floor. Other clips show the man chatting with the attackers and it seems that he was advising them on something. Another clip shows that the man leaving with some other hostages from Holey Artisan Bakery.
DK Hwang, who uploaded the video, has mentioned that the man was one of the terrorists and left the place as a hostage. Hasnat H Karim suffers from cancer. In 2009, he left Bangladesh for England and had gone out of scene for a long time. Recently, he has joined NSU after his return.
Investigators suspected that Hasnat might have masterminded the heinous attack and went to the restaurant, along with his family members in the name of celebrating birthday, only to dodge the law enforcers.
Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) director general Benazir Ahmed yesterday asked families to report to the authorities if any of their members are missing. He made the request afterit was revealed that at least two of the attackers went missing from the scene of the massacre.
Ashraf Uddin Ahmed Chunnu, former national team footballer, yesterday told The Independent that his son Andalib was not missing. He is currently with him and no one misguided him. He urged those concerned not to create any confusion about his son.
