Bangladesh: Hostages taken in restaurant standoff

By Mainul Islam Khan

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AA) - A police officer died in a shootout with several assailants when they entered a restaurant in Bangladesh’s diplomatic zone and took customers hostage Friday at around 9:00 p.m. (0300GMT), setting up a standoff.

Police tried to intervene but the assailants started shooting from inside, and one police officer died in the hospital, and at least 10 others were injured, according to local television reports. They also hurled a sonic grenade to disrupt police action outside the restaurant.

Locals said the hostages might include some foreign expatriates.

No exact number of assailants or hostages has been confirmed, and the gunmen have not been identified.

A small number of restaurant employees were able to get out but they could not identify the gunmen, police said.

Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) chief Benazir Ahmed told reporters that they are preparing for an operation and urged TV channels not to broadcast the operation live, to help it succeed.

SWAT teams are also on the scene, as well as Bangladesh Border Guard (BGB) officers to help keep the situation under control.

Ahmed told reporters, “There is nothing to worry about, we all are here. We will try to establish contact with them [the gunmen] and would like to listen to them. We want to talk to them to resolve this [situation].”

Police have cordoned off all roads in the diplomatic zone and stopped all traffic.