Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday led the country in paying homage to the 20 victims of the terrorist attack that took place in Holey Artisan Bakery in the diplomatic region of Dhaka on Friday. Hundreds paid tribute to the victims, mainly Italian, Japanese, Bangladeshi and an Indian. Six terrorists were killed and one captured by authorities.
Although terrorist outfit Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack, Bangladeshi minister Asaduzzaman Khan told Reuters that it was conducted by home-grown terrorists, which are responsible for a slew of killings in the last year. He blamed Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh, which claims its represents the Islamic State but has no proven links with it. He also targeted Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) for the attack.
The Indian victim, 19-year old Tarishi Jain’s body arrived at IGI airport, New Delhi on Monday morning. Tarishi was a student of the University of California, Berkeley. She had studied in the American School in Dhaka. She was in Bangladesh to do an internship.
Tarishi was in the bakery with two of her friends. 19-year old Abinta Kabir is a student of Oxford College of Emory University in the US. 20-year old Faraaz Hossain was given the option the leave the bakery, but refused to leave Tarishi and Abinta, who were criticised for being dressed in western attire. He was also killed.
The other victims include 45-year old Ishrat Akhond, who worked as a human resources director at ZXY Apparel Buying Solutions. 52-year old Nadia Benedetti was an Italian, who was visiting Bangladesh for business. Italians Claudia Maria D’Antona and Claudio Cappelli worked in separate textile companies in Bangladesh. Maria D’Antona’s husband was the lone Italian survivor, he had stepped out to attend a call when the attack took place. Simona Monti, a 33-year old, was 5-months pregnant when she was killed. Cristian Rossi was the father of three-year old twins. Maria Riboli was in Bangladesh for her textile business. Adele Puglisi, Marco Tondat, Vincenzo D’Allestro, Vincenzo D’Allestro, Vincenzo D’Allestro, Nobuhiro Kurosaki, Hiroshi Tanaka, Koyo Ogasawara Yuko Sakai and Rui Shimodaira are the other victims.
Some of the terrorists have been identified as educated youth in their early twenties, studying in a top private university in Dhaka. Some of them were reported missing before the attacks as well. One attacker has been identified as Saameh Mubasheer, a Class 11 student. A second attacker, Rohan Imtiaz, was also reported missing for a few months. Nibras Islam was pursuing his higher studies in Monash University’s Malaysia campus. Their pictures were released by the Islamic State.
