The video message believed to be issued from Raqqa, the stronghold of the terror group in strife-torn Syria in Bangla language was first found in an Islamic State-affiliate website and then released on YouTube early on Wednesday. The revelation comes as police continue to search for accomplices of the gunmen who killed 20 people at the Holey Artisan café.
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Thirteen hostages, including one Japanese and two Sri Lankans, were rescued after a two-hour operation launched by army commandos on Saturday morning.
However, the Bangladeshi home minister told Reuters late on Saturday that neither Islamic State, also known as Isis, nor al-Qaeda were involved.
But after photos purportedly showing the inside of the cafe and dead hostages were posted on an ISIS-affiliated website, US officials said they are now focused on ISIS as the perpetrator.
He said the militants were mostly educated and from well-off families, but declined to give any more details. “Their only religion is terrorism”. “The Jihad that has come to Bangladesh now has been promised by Prophet Mohammed”, he claimed, Dhaka Tribune reported.
Foreign diplomats embrace each other as they attend a ceremony to offer tribute to the victims of the attack on Holey Artisan Bakery, at a stadium in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Monday, July 4, 2016. The seven militants were local Bangladeshis and the authorities had previously tried to arrest five of them, police said. ISIL says it carried out the attack, but the government rejects that, saying the group doesn’t have a presence.
The men belonged to the banned domestic group Jumatul Mujahedeen Bangladesh (JMB) and their families hadn’t heard from them in months, according to police.
“Once they attack a restaurant popular with foreigners on a Friday night their message is clear who they want to go after”.
The JMB has been accused of involvement in numerous killings over the past year and Islam said police were interrogating more than 130 of its members already in custody.
Bangladesh began two days of national mourning Sunday after 20 hostages were slaughtered at a restaurant, for not being able to recite verses from the Quran.
NEW DELHI (AP) – The bodies of the seven Japanese killed in a militant attack in Bangladesh returned to home Tuesday as investigators in Dhaka searched for clues about the possible masterminds behind the gruesome attack that left 28 dead.
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Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the killing of the hostages and two police officers during an 11-hour siege that ended on Saturday, July 2, but the government has consistently denied that worldwide jihadist groups are operating in Bangladesh.
