Tahmid Shafi identified as narrator of IS video featuring Gulshan attackers

The Bangladesh Police today claimed that the narrator of the video that was recently released allegedly by the Islamic State featuring five Dhaka cafe attackers, is Tahmid Rahman Safi (30), son of former Bangladesh election commissioner and home secretary late Safiur Rahman.

"We confirmed the voice of the narrator through voice recognition software," said Counter Terrorism Unit Chief Monirul Islam, reports the Daily Star.

According to his friends, Tahmid was a singer who was passionate about music since childhood. So much so that he made it to the top 15 in the first season of the country's popular talent hunt show 'Close Up 1'.

Tahmid, who worked as a teacher at an English medium school before going missing in mid-2015, and two of his Bangladeshi associates spoke on camera in the first IS video released from Raqqa, Syria on July 6 hailing the Holey Artisan Bakery attack.

On July 1, gunmen, allegedly belonging to the Islamic State, killed 20 hostages - mostly foreigners - at Holey Artisan bakery in Gulshan, Dhaka's diplomatic zone. Two police officers were also killed during the 12-hour-long siege.