Dhaka cafe standoff: US Embassy’s reaction

The armed standoff in Dhaka, Bangladesh, led to the death and wounds of people who was in the restaurant. The U.S. Embassy in Dhaka said it had accounted for all of the American citizens working under the chief of the mission authority.

It’s still unclear how gunmen could seize the people in the cafe at a diplomatic zone in Dhaka (1.5 kilometers from the US Embassy). According to the latest data, 14 hostages were rescued, and one of the terrorists was captured alive.

The witness of the tragedy, cafe worker Sumon Reza, said that gunmen attacked the cafe popular with expats and took those inside hostages. About 20 people, including foreigners, were in the restaurant as he escaped from the premises. From the very beginning of an attack, there were from six to eight gunmen, one of them police captured alive, said Reza.

The Detective Police Deputy Commissioner Sheikh Nazmul Alam reported 40 people were wounded–both by gunshots and by shrapnel from improvised explosive devices. According to the data od the US Embassy in Dhaka, it had accounted for all of the U.S. citizens working under the Chief of the mission authority. A cafe is situated very close to the Embassy building and other missions, the diplomats said, the distance is 1.5 kilometers from the cafe.