The jihadists who murdered 20 hostages at a restaurant in Dhaka were members of a homegrown Bangladeshi militant outfit and not followers of the so-called Islamic State group, a senior minister has said.
"They are members of the Jamaeytul Mujahdeen Bangladesh," Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan told AFP, referring to a group which has been banned in Bangladesh for more than a decade.
"They have no connections with the Islamic State."
Gunmen stormed the upmarket restaurant popular with foreigners in the diplomatic zone late on Friday, before killing 18 people in a co-ordinated mass killing that experts said marked a level of scale and sophistication not previously seen in the South Asian country.
Most of the victims were hacked to death with machetes before commandos entered the building, killing six of the militants and capturing a seventh, after a 12-hour standoff, police said.
"All gunmen were Bangladeshi. Five of them were listed as militants and law enforcers made several drives to arrest them," national police chief Shahidul Hoque told reporters.
Bangladesh has blamed two home-grown groups for a series of grisly killings targeting liberals or members of minority groups over the past 18 months, and local authorities have maintained that no operational links exist between Bangladeshi militants and international jihadi networks.
Islamic State posted photos yesterday of five fighters it said were involved in the killings but its claim has not been confirmed.
Police said nine Italians, seven Japanese, two Bangladeshis, an Indian and a US citizen were killed during the attack at the Dhaka building, split between the Holey Artisan Bakery and the O'Kitchen Restaurant.
Italian media said several of the Italians victims worked in the garment industry, and the attack will frighten foreigners working in the $26bn garment sector that accounts for 80% of its exports.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina announced two days of national mourning yesterday and said the country would stand up and fight the "terror threat".
