The Express Tribune :
A Muslim student, who is among the victims of Dhaka carnage, refused to abandon his friends and was killed alongside others despite being given a chance to leave.
Faraz Hossain, a Bangladeshi who studied at Emory University in the United States, was killed with his college fellow Abinta Kabir.His nephew Hishaan has revealed that Faraz was given a chance to desert his friends to save his life along with women who were observing hijabs, but he declined the offer and preferred staying with his friend.
It has emerged that he refused to leave because two of his friends, who were wearing Western clothes, were not allowed to exit the carnage site during the hostage situation. He chose to stay and was eventually slaughtered.
It was later learnt the militants were allowing people to leave if they could recite Quran.
Gunmen attacked the upscale cafe in the diplomatic area of Dhaka late on July 1 and had been holding about 20 hostages, including foreigners, before police poured into the building to try to free those stuck inside. At least two police were killed, authorities said.
Bangladesh began observing two days of national mourning on Sunday after 20 hostages were killed at a restaurant packed with foreigners in a terrifying escalation of a campaign of attacks by religious extremists.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina decreed the mourning period as she vowed to drag Bangladesh back from the brink, warning of a concerted bid to turn one of the world’s most populous nations into a failed state.
