Staff Reporter: Inter Service Public Relations Directorate (ISPR] on Saturday said that 20 bodies of the hostages were recovered from the Holey Artisan Bakery restaurant at Gulshan-2 in Dhaka’s diplomatic zone which was attacked by armed gunmen on Friday night. They were all foreign hostages, hacked to death with sharp weapons by the Islamist terrorists, known as ISIL. The victims had severe wounds to their necks and throats. Earlier, six of the attackers were shot dead during the 50-minute operation by the special commando unit of Bangladesh Army in the morning. A back-up team comprising members of Naval Commando Unit, BGB, SWAT, RAB and Police took position around the restaurant at that time. The Operation Thunderbolt was lasted from 7.40am to 8.30am. Sources said the majority of the victims were from Italy and Japan. No Americans or Britons have yet been confirmed among the casualties. Brig-Gen Nayeen Ashfaq Chowdhury, at a press conference held at the Bangladesh army headquarters, confirmed that 20 people were found killed using locally made sharp weapons. Two Sri Lankans and one Japanese hostage were rescued, along with around a dozen Bangladeshis.
