Home Affairs Minister of Bangladesh Asaduzzaman Khan said on Saturday that they had identified the masterminds behind the siege in a cafe in Dhaka, in which 20 were killed, and the attack on an Eid gathering days later. "The government has identified the masterminds of the two attacks. They will be exposed to justice," Khan said, refusing to give up their identities "in the interest of investigations", PTI reported.
Security officials said they had confirmed the identities of five of the six militants who were gunned down after they stormed a popular restaurant in an diplomatic area in Dhaka on July 1 and killed 20 people. While the Islamic State had claimed responsibility for this carnage, the government had asserted that local banned outfit Jamaat-ul-Mujahdeen was behind it.
On July 7, at least three people were killed and more than 10 injured after crude bombs exploded near the country's biggest Eid congregation held at Sholakia Eidgah Maidan in Bangladesh's Kishoreganj area. One of the attackers died in the blast, police said.
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. "Those who carried out the Gulshan [area] attack [at the cafe] were all Bangladeshis, but I don't rule out their possible foreign links," Dhaka Police Commissioner Asaduzzaman Mia said, adding that they don't want to say anything further in the matter without evidence.
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