Bangladesh Home Affairs Minister Asaduzzaman Khan on Sunday denied any Islamic State connection with the attack at a restaurant in Dhaka, in which 20 were killed. Members of banned outfit Jamaeytul Mujahdeen Bangladesh, not Islamic State operatives, were behind the shooting, he said, AFP reported.
The senior minister’s statement comes after the terror outfit had claimed responsibility for the 11-hour siege at Dhaka’s O’kitchen restaurant, during which an Indian was killed. While the Islamic State has claimed to be behind a number of attacks in the country, including ones on religious minorities, the government has maintained that the group has no base in Bangladesh.
Khan further said that the militants were all “highly educated young men” from well-to-do families. Police released the names and photographs of the six assailants who were gunned down by security forces in Saturday’s attack. The seventh hostage-taker was caught alive and is being questioned.
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