Dhaka cafe attackers used five pistols, two AK-22 rifles

Dhaka, July 7: The Islamist terrorists, who carried out a barbaric attack in a Dhaka cafe last Friday killing 22 people, were armed with five pistols and three AK-22 rifles, the police said on Thursday.

Besides the arms, the police claim to have found three knives, a machete, a white bloodied handkerchief and around 300 spent rounds of ammunition from the attack site. The police also found nine safety pins from the cafe, and suspect they were of the hand grenades used by the terrorists, reported the bdnews24.com.

A police official said a bloodied handkerchief with something written on it with black ink, was found on a body at the Holey Artisan cafe.

According to the case details, 13 hostages were rescued by the army commandos on Saturday and 19 by the police the previous night. Five of those rescued were foreigners.

Police identified the foreigners as Pepetha Shayama Wijesekera and Harikesha Wijesekera from Sri Lanka, Argentinean-Italian Diego Rossini, Gian Galeazzo Boscheni from Italy, and Watanabe Tamoke from Japan.

The Dhaka cafe attackers had spoken in Bangla to someone on a mobile phone, one of the freed hostages told police.

Dhaka Metropolitan Police counter-terrorism unit chief Monirul Islam told reporters: "One of the militants spoke to someone outside in Bangla through a mobile phone that night. He informed (the person on the other end) about the killings."

Islam hoped the investigation would reveal whether the militant had called someone within the country or abroad.

Last Friday evening, a group of Islamist youths carrying guns and explosives stormed the cafe in Gulshan and held hostage those inside -- mainly expatriates who frequented the popular eatery.

By the end of the siege, they had killed 22 people, including 17 foreigners and two policemen.

Security forces stormed the outlet on Saturday morning. The Army said six attackers were killed and another was captured alive. Police have filed a case naming the six dead attackers -- who include the cafe chef.

Middle East radical group Islamic State has claimed credit for the attack.

The police have named Jama'atul Muhjahideen Bangladesh (JMB) as the group directly behind the carnage.

IANS