Japanese bodies flown home, Dhaka officials search for clues

Late Friday, gunmen stormed the Holey Artisan Bakery, often frequented by foreigners, in the neighborhood of Gulshan in Dhaka, and killed 20 people overnight.

The US has offered immediate assistance of its law enforcement agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, to probe Bangladesh’s worst terror attack in which 22 people were brutally slaughtered by suspected ISIS militants.

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.

Police believe that Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), an outlawed domestic group that has pledged allegiance to Islamic State, played a significant role in organising the band of privileged, educated young attackers.

Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni, who went to Rome’s Ciampino airport for the plane’s arrival, said he was committed to making sure the victims received state assistance in line with Italian law, which also provides for their families.

Bangladesh authorities who monitor social media saw several messages on Friday posted on Twitter saying there would be an attack, he said.

Bangladesh has started two days of mourning following the assault on an upmarket restaurant in the capital Dhaka.

The industry seemed relatively untouched by a spate of recent murders of liberals, gay people, foreigners and religious minorities in sporadic attacks claimed by Islamic State and al Qaeda.

“While this was a preliminary assessment based on information developing at the time, the official says AQIS has demonstrated a more capable presence in Dhaka over the past few months than ISIS”, noted the news network amid the attack.

He drew attention to the statement by the Adviser to the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Gowher Rizvi, refuting a media report that was attributed to him regarding Pakistan’s involvement in the attack, as proof of the Indian media’s “malicious intent”. Three of the victims were students at universities in the United States.

“The sixth man was a restaurant employee”, Saiful Islam, a top police official investigating the attack, told Reuters.

Police on Tuesday also registered a case against five of the six dead attackers, Islam said, which they need to do to begin formal investigations which includes questioning of their families. Six terrorists were killed during the rescue and one is in custody. “They have no connections with the Islamic State”.

The Canadian had arrived in Dhaka the day before the attack and was inside the restaurant with two female friends who attended the same private university as some of the attackers. the Star reported.

Nine Italians, seven Japanese, an Indian and three students at American universities were killed in the siege – and the bodies of the Japanese victims have now been identified and repatriated. Unlike the previous attacks, the assailants were well-prepared and heavily armed with guns, bombs and sharp objects that police later said were used to torture some of the 35 captives.