PM speaks to Hasina, says Dhaka attack has ‘pained us beyond words’
New Delhi: An 18-year-old Indian girl holidaying in Dhaka was among 20 foreigners who were hacked to death by ISIS militants in a terror attack at a restaurant in Bangladesh capital’s high-security diplomatic zone.
The girl, Tarushi Jain, a student at UC Berkeley, was on vacation in Dhaka. Her father runs a garment business in Bangladesh for the last 15-20 years, according to officials here.
Another Indian, a doctor by profession, had a narrow escape, as he spoke fluent Bengali and the terrorists mistook him for a Bangladeshi, they said. In a series of tweets, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said,”I am extremely pained to share that the terrorists have killed Tarushi, an Indian girl who was taken hostage in the terror attack in Dhaka.
“I have spoken to her father Sanjeev Jain and conveyed our deepest condolences. The country is with them in this hour of grief. “We are arranging visa for the family. My officers are on the job,” she said. Twenty foreigners, including eight Italians, were brutally murdered by the militants inside the restaurant in Dhaka’s diplomatic zone before commandos launched an assault on Saturday, killing six attackers and capturing one alive, ending Bangladesh’s worst terror attack.
Director of Military Operations Brigadier General Nayeem Ashfaq Chowdhury said the militants slaughtered 20 hostages before the joint operation led by the armed forces began. Most of those killed were found with their throat slit, he added. He said the bodies of the victims were recovered during a search in the Holey Artisan Bakery compound after the operation. The bodies were shifted to the Combined Military Hospital morgue for autopsy to confirm their identity.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said the Dhaka attack has “pained us beyond words” as he spoke to his Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina, conveying that India stands firmly with the country in this hour of grief.
“The attack in Dhaka has pained us beyond words,” he tweeted about the terror strike at a restaurant popular with foreigners in which 24 people were killed during over 12-hour hostage situation. Modi said he spoke to Hasina and “strongly condemned the despicable attack”. In a series of tweets, he said, “India stands firmly with our sisters & brothers of Bangladesh in this hour of grief..
My thoughts are with the bereaved families. I pray that those who are injured recover quickly.” The ISIS terrorists struck at the restaurant located in high-security diplomatic area last night and the hostage crisis ended this morning with army commandos storming the place and killing all the six attackers. (PTI)