Gunfire at diplomatic zone cafe, hostage situation reported
A group of armed men have sized a cafe in the capital’s diplomatic zone on Friday night. Gunfire has been heard from the cafe popular with expatriates, diplomats and urban middle-class families. Unconfirmed reports say hostages have been taken.
Huge number of policemen and Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) members had cordoned off the area and gunshots were still being heard when this report was filed around 11:12pm.
According to an eyewitness, about eight men including three heavily-armed gunmen entered the Holey Artisan Bakery on Road 79 of affluent suburb of Gulshan around 8:45pm exploding bombs and started shooting indiscriminately.
Assistant Commissioner (AC) of Gulshan Division Police Rafiqul Islam said three people including two police constables and a civilian were shot in this attack. Injured have been taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital, he added.
The injured are identified as Abdur Razzak, a driver in profession who took a bullet in throat and police constables Pradip and Alamgir. The police personnel were shot in their right legs.
Meanwhile, unconfirmed reports also suggested that the both the chefs of the bakery have been taken into hostage.
Police is yet to reach the vicinity of the site due to indiscriminate shooting by the unidentified gunmen, Salauddin Ahmed, Gulshan police inspector. A joint team of police, RAB, BGB has been deployed at the site, Salauddin said.
