13 hostages rescued as forces storm besieged Dhaka cafe

Thirteen hostages have been rescued after security forces ended a siege at a cafe in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka on Saturday, a top commander said.

“Three of them are foreigners. Ten locals,” Tuhin Mohammad Masud, a commander of the elite Rapid Action Battalion which stormed the eatery, told India’s Times Now television network.

Six of the hostage-takers were killed in the operation, officials said.

“We have gunned down six of the terrorists. The main area that they have been occupying has been cleared,” Masud said.

“The operation is over. The situation is completely under control,” army spokesman Colonel Rashidul Hasan told AFP.

Bangladesh security forces stormed the Holey Artisan Bakery in the high-security diplomatic district of Gulshan where dozens of people, including foreigners, more than 10 hours after they were taken hostage by suspected Islamist militants. Islamic State said it was behind the attack.

An AFP photographer at the scene said he could hear a massive gunfight as security forces launched the operation. The sound of two big explosions has been heard from inside the restaurant, and a police official said five bodies were seen lying in pools of blood.

As many as nine gunmen attacked the restaurant on Friday night, taking hostages, killing two officers and wounding at least 26 people in a gunbattle with security forces, authorities and a witness said.

Police said the two officers died at a hospital after being wounded in the exchange of gunfire with the attackers, who also hurled bombs. Ten of the 26 wounded were listed in critical condition, six of whom were on life support, according to hospital staff, who said the injuries ranged from broken bones to gunshot wounds. Only one civilian was among the wounded.

A huge contingent of security forces cordoned off the area around the bakery. A local resident Lutful Amin told the AP he heard several explosions, the last of which went off around 10:45 p.m.

IS’s Amaq News Agency said “Islamic State commandos” carried out the attack, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors jihadist activity online. Bangladesh authorities did not immediately respond to the claim, but in the past have denied that the extremist group has a presence in the country. The US State Department said it had seen the IS claim, but could not confirm its authenticity.

Bangladesh, a traditionally moderate Muslim-majority nation, has recently seen an upsurge in violence. Nearly two dozen atheist writers, publishers, members of religious minorities, social activists and foreign aid workers have been slain since 2013 by attackers wielding machetes. The frequency of attacks has increased in recent months. On Friday, a Hindu temple worker was hacked to death by at least three assailants in southwest Bangladesh.

The attacks have raised fears that religious extremists are gaining a foothold in the country, despite its traditions of secularism and tolerance.