At least nine terrorists shouted “Allahu Akbar,” detonated bombs and took hostages in a Friday night attack at a cafe in Bangladesh – and now the Islamic State is claiming credit for the bloodshed in which two people were killed and several more wounded.
Fox News reported there were up to nine attackers. CNN says the terrorists are holding as many as 20 hostages and have killed at least two senior police officers and injured 40 people.
ISIS’ Amaq News Agency claims ISIS fighters were responsible for the carnage.
Police and emergency responders sealed off the cafe.
“Unknown number of people are still inside but we cannot confirm whether they are held hostage,” police officer Sayedur Rahman said, to Agence France-Presse.
Local media outlets reported that several men carting firearms had stormed into Holey Artisan Bakery and opened fire. The cafe is a popular eating and meeting spot for diplomats, BBC reported.
The U.S. Embassy in Dhaka, meanwhile, tweeted there were “reports of shooting and a hostage situation.”
The identity of the attackers isn’t yet known. A local police officer told BBC Islamic terrorists were suspected.
One worker at the bakery who witnessed the attack said to the Express: “They blasted several crude bombs causing widespread panic among everyone. I managed to flee during this confusion.”
And another witness said to the same paper he heard gunfire from his nearby home and the scene “looked quite bad.”
The New York Times cited Twitter statements from witnesses that armed paramilitary officers surrounded the Holey Artisan Bakery in the city’s Gulshan neighborhood.
The report said media reports from the scene said as many as 10 police officers had been shot as the standoff developed and hostages were taken.
“We are requesting the ones who are inside the restaurant to talk to us, relay us your demands,” said Benazir Ahmed, the chief of the local counterterrorism Rapid Action Battalion, said the Dhaka Tribune.
American officials first told Americans in the city to “shelter in place,” and State Department spokesman John Kirby said all Americans working at the U.S. mission have been accounted for, according to Reuters. Kirby said the situation is still “fluid.”
Kitchen worker Sumon Reza told the Daily Star the attackers were shouting the Islamic “Allahu Akbar” and they attacked with pistols, bombs and swords.
