United States offers FBI assistance to probe into the matter
Dhaka: Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday led the nation in mourning the 22 Dhaka siege victims, including an Indian girl, at a solemn ceremony here as the country paid a tearful homage to those killed in the worst terror attack on its soil.
Diplomats, politicians and people from across the different strata of society paid tributes and placed wreaths during the ceremony at the Bangladesh Army Stadium in Dhaka cantonment which drew a huge crowd despite drizzle. Islamist militants hacked to death 20 hostages after they stormed a cafe popular with expatriates and diplomats in Dhaka’s diplomatic zone on Friday.
At the ceremony, Hasina placed floral wreaths at the caskets of three Bangladeshi victims — 2 Bangladeshis and one American of Bangladeshi-origin. The caskets were placed on a raised platform which had the flags of India, Italy, Bangladesh, Japan and the US — signifying the nationalities of the foreigners killed.
Autopsy on the bodies had been conducted earlier at the Combined Military Hospital (CMH) in Dhaka. Of those killed, 18 were foreigners — nine Italians, 7 Japanese, one American of Bangladeshi-origin and an Indian, 19-year-old Tarishi Jain, were among those killed.
Two other Bangladeshis were also among the hostages slaughtered. Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh, Harsh Vardhan Shringla, who was present at the ceremony, said, “I mentioned to the PM (Hasina) that I have just been to the airport to see off our daughter, Tarishi.
” “She (Tarishi) had just left Bangladesh and gone back home with her parents and the PM (Hasina) told me that she is deeply distraught and she wanted me to convey condolences to our Prime Minister (Narendra Modi), External Affairs Minister (Sushma Swaraj) and she said that we will be resolute in the fight against terror.
The US has offered immediate assistance of its law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, to probe Bangladesh’s worst terror attack in which 22 people were brutally slaughtered by suspected ISIS militants.
The assistance was offered as Secretary of State John Kerry called Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina n Sunday.
“The Secretary encouraged the government of Bangladesh to conduct its investigation in accordance with the highest international standards and offered immediate assistance from US law enforcement, including the FBI,” State Department spokesperson John Kirby said.
The offer came in the wake of the “outrageous attack” on the Holey Artisan restaurant in Dhaka’s high-security diplomatic zone, he said. During the call, Kerry condoled the loss of innocent lives at the hands of terrorists “who threaten the United States, Bangladesh and the international community”.
“He re-affirmed US support for Bangladesh’s efforts to bring those responsible for planning and conducting the attacks to justice as well as to prevent future attacks,” Kirby said. (PTI)