The site of the attack is called Sholakia Eidgah, a large field where hundreds of thousands of people have gathered nearly every year since the early 19th century to pray on the occasion of Eid, according to media.
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India has suspended the Maitree Express, a direct train service between Dhaka and Kolkata, in the wake of the deadly terrorist attack at the Holey Artisan cafe in Dhaka that claimed the lives of 22 people including foreigners.
“They are anti-Islam, anti-religion and anti-government. I am confident that the government of Banlgadesh will do its utmost to bring those responsible”, she said in the statement. More than a dozen other people were injured with gunshot or bomb shrapnel wounds, including two in critical condition, he said.
The government has dismissed claims of responsibility by the Islamic State group for past attacks, including last Friday’s hostage-taking.
It is believed the intended target of the attack was Maulana Masud, a key liberal cleric in the area, who has been campaigning publicly against Islamist radicals.
Though Islamic State has claimed many past attacks, including the hostage-taking, Hasina’s government has dismissed those claims as opportunistic and says none of the attacks have been orchestrated from overseas.
Instead, Hasina’s government has accused her political opponents of backing the militants’ agenda, an allegation the opposition parties deny. Such an attack on Eid is said to be first time in Bangladesh.
But the attack on the cafe marked a sharp escalation in the scale and sophistication of the violence which security experts said pointed to greater links with trans-national militant groups, even if no foreign fighters took part.
The ISIS terror group on Wednesday issued a new chilling video warning the Bangladesh Government of more attacks in the country and across the world until Shariah law is established globally, saying last week’s gruesome attack here was just “a glimpse”.
Prime Minister Hasina pleaded with families across Bangladesh on Thursday to report to police if any of their sons have gone missing in recent months, as the hostage-takers had before staging their restaurant attack in Dhaka’s diplomatic quarter.
Police said seven people including students had been detained for questioning over the attack. “The people of this country are peace loving”.
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“Uploading, sharing, commenting or liking any video, images or speech in the social media such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube in support of the Islamic State or militancy is a punishable offence”.
