https://youtu.be/0ID-aOd830w
Reports of shooting and hostage situation in Gulshan 2, Dhaka. Please shelter in place and monitor news.
— U.S. Embassy Dhaka (@usembassydhaka) July 1, 2016
There are “reports of shooting and hostage situation,” the US embassy in Bangladesh has tweeted. Bangladeshi police exchanged fire with armed men at a Dhaka restaurant popular with foreigners, Reuters reported.
Bangladesh’s authorities are trying to persuade the attackers to release the hostages, the Times of India reports. All TV networks across Bangladesh have stopped live coverage at the request of police, local media websites report. Media outlets have been requested not to publish the names or nationalities of probable hostages for their safety.
Media should refrain from identifying nationalities/identities of probable hostages in context of #Dhaka for their safety. Please RT & tag
— Col Rajyavardhan Rathore (@Ra_THORe) July 1, 2016
“We heard the shooting noise and blasting bombs… It is quiet now,” a witness who lives a kilometer from the restaurant told RT.
“I’m particularly worried about what is going to happen in the next hours…” the man said, adding that he doesn’t know what actions local authorities are taking and he is concerned that if police try to catch the attackers, it may lead to more bloodshed.
The attack was carried out by a group of at least nine people, according to local media. They entered the restaurant at around 9:20pm local time and reportedly opened fire and set off explosions. One of the attackers was armed with a sword, the others carried guns, an employee of a nearby café told RT. He estimated the number of hostages as at least 30.
A kitchen worker who managed to escape the building said the attackers chanted “Allahu Akbar.”