B'desh PM Sheikh Hasina pays tribute to Dhaka terror attack victims

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina paid homage to the victims of the Gulshan attack at the Army Stadium in Banani here on Monday morning.

The 12-hour-long hostage crisis had ended on Saturday morning after a two-hour long assault by armed forces' commandos killing six gunmen and capturing one alive.

Nine Italians, seven Japanese, one Indian, one Bangladeshi American and two Bangladeshis were among the 20 killed in the terror attack at Holey Artisan Bakery in Gulshan on Friday night.

Two senior police officers-Banani Police Station officer-in-charge Salauddin Ahmed Khan and Detective Branch Assistant commissioner Robiul Islam also lost their lives while trying to rescue the hostages.

While Salauddin was laid to eternal rest at Banani Graveyard in Dhaka, Robiul was buried at her village home in Manikganj.

Meanwhile security continues to be tight at all sensitive points in the capital, with police checking all vehicles especially in the secured diplomatic area where the gruesome hostage killings took place.

US Secretary of State John Kerry had also called the Bangladesh Prime Minister and offered her assistance from American law enforcement, including the FBI, in the wake of the terror attack in Dhaka.

State Department spokesperson John Kirby said that the Secretary yesterday encouraged the Bangladesh to conduct its investigation in accordance with the highest international standards and offered immediate US assistance in this regard.