Even though the commando operation at Gulshan’s Holey Artisan Bakery completed in 12 minutes on Friday morning, killing six attackers, rescuing 13 people, arresting one suspect alive and recovering the bodies of 20 hostages, Md Saiful Islam Choukidar, a chef of the café, still remains missing, UNB reports. “Though the hostage crisis at the café by terrorists is over, we are yet to trace our chef Saifullah,” Sumon Reza, head of food and beverage section of the restaurant, told UNB.
He further said, “We’ve already seen the bodies of 20 victims at Dhaka Combined Military Hospital but couldn’t identify any that resembles Saifullah.” Replying to a question, Sumon, who narrowly escaped the tragedy by jumping from the rooftop of the 2-storey café soon after the gunmen captured it, said, “We didn’t see the six bodies of the suspected militants who were killed during the operation.”
Six of the seven gunmen were also killed in the operation while one 'suspect' was arrested during the operation, according to the press briefing of the combined forces at Dhaka Cantonment a few hours after the operation. Later, police have made public the names and photos of five out of the six killed attackers of the Spanish restaurant.
However, police have not disclosed the identities of either of the six dead or the one alive who was detained during the operation.
Among the six attackers, five killed suspects were identified by police as Akash, Bikash, Don, Badhon and Ripon.
“We have checked the pictures of the five suspected killed militants but that didn’t match with our chef’s,” said Sumon.
Replying to a question he said, ”We are not sure whether the other body, of which nothing was disclosed by the Police headquarters, is our chef Saifullah.”
“We informed our restaurant authorities to contact law enforcement agencies in this regard,” he added.
Meanwhile, a pal of gloom has descended on Saiful’s home at Kolkathi village in Naria upazila of Shariatpur district after the news of the hostage crisis at the Gulshan restaurant spread around.
Though police has no clue about Saiful, his mother, wife and two daughters have started mourning assuming he is already dead.
Contacted, officer-in-charge of Naria Police Station Md Ikram Ali said police have the names of the 22 people, including two policemen, killed in the ‘militant’ attack as well as the names of the ‘six’ attackers who were killed by the commando operation later, but no name matches with Saiful.
Two police officials - Assistant Commissioner of Detective Branch of Dhaka Metropolitan Police Robiul Islam and Officer-in-charge of Banani Police station Salauddin - were killed in the attack of the militants when police tried to enter the Holey Artisan Bakery on Friday night. Around 50 members of law enforcement agencies were injured in the attack.