http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-36692613 Bangladesh siege: Twenty killed at Holey Artisan Bakery in Dhaka Twenty people, said to be foreigners, were killed during an attack by suspected Islamist militants on a cafe in Bangladesh, the army says. Gunmen stormed the Holey Artisan Bakery cafe in Dhaka late on Friday before troops entered almost 12 hours later. Six of the attackers were also killed and one was arrested, a government spokesman said. The attack was claimed by the so-called Islamic State (IS). Italy's Prime Minister Matteo Renzi confirmed Italians were killed. He offered condolences to the victims' families and, referring to the attackers, said: "Our values are stronger than hatred and terror." Italian news agency Ansa said up to 10 Italians may be unaccounted for. The Italian press said many of those dining at the cafe worked in the garment industry. Although the army said all 20 killed were foreigners, there are unconfirmed reports that at least one Bangladeshi national was among the hostages killed. In other developments: India's foreign minister said a young Indian woman was among the dead Bangladesh Army Brig Gen Naim Asraf Chowdhury said the victims had been "brutally" attacked with sharp weapons Japan's Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Koichi Hagiuda said seven other Japanese nationals were in the cafe, but that the government had not yet been able to contact them Gen Chowdhury said 13 people were rescued, including one Japanese national and two Sri Lankans The siege began as diners were gathering to break their fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. "It was an extremely heinous act," Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said in a televised statement. "What kind of Muslims are these people? They don't have any religion. "My government is determined to root out terrorism and militancy from Bangladesh." Bangladesh's Daily Star newspaper said the gunmen tortured anyone who was unable to recite the Koran. They provided meals overnight for only the Bangladeshi captives, it said. Sumon Reza, a supervisor at the cafe, was in the restaurant in Gulshan district when the attack began, but managed to flee to the roof. "The whole building was shaking when they set off explosives," he told media in Bangladesh. He later jumped off the roof and escaped. "From 08:00 it all started," said Rashila Rahim, who lives near the cafe. "Gunshots, tank sounds... It was like we were in the middle, and gunshots from all around." The timing, the target and the message of the daring attack on the Holey Artisan Bakery in Dhaka was loud and clear. The Islamist militants struck on the last weekend before the Muslim religious festival of Eid al-Fitr. Dozens of diners were at the cafe, which is popular among foreigners and middle-class Bangladeshis. The Gulshan district is a high-security area and considered among the safest places in Dhaka. Several embassies and non-governmental organisations are based in the neighbourhood and hundreds of foreigners and wealthy Bangladeshis live there. The government had stepped up security after an Italian aid worker was killed in the area by suspected militants in 2015. It's difficult to travel through Gulshan without passing through a security check post. But the latest attack has shown that even Gulshan is not safe. Over the past three years, more than 40 people have been killed in Bangladesh by suspected Islamists. But the attacks mostly targeted individuals - secular bloggers, writers, activists, academics and members of religious minorities. The attack on the cafe was on a different scale. It seems to have been well planned and well co-ordinated. The attack began when eight or nine armed men burst into the cafe in the diplomatic area of the city at about 21:20 (15:20 GMT) on Friday and opened fire. Media reports quoted witnesses as saying that "Allahu Akbar", meaning "God is great", was heard as the militants entered the cafe, which is popular with expatriates, diplomats and middle-class families. At least two police officers were killed in exchanges of fire late on Friday, and 30 police officers were injured. A statement on the IS's self-styled Amaq news agency said militants had attacked a restaurant "frequented by foreigners". It said that more than 20 people "of different nationalities" had been killed but this has not been confirmed. Lt Col Tuhin Mohammad Masud, commander of the Rapid Action Battalion, told Associated Press the gunmen did not respond when asked to negotiate. It is unclear if they made any demands. The attack comes after a spate of murders of secular bloggers, gay activists, academics and members of religious minorities, blamed on Islamist militants.
Hindu Priest in Bangladesh Is Hacked to Death DHAKA, Bangladesh — Attackers wielding machetes killed a Hindu priest in Bangladesh on Friday morning, the fourth Hindu to be targeted during the past month in more than three years of similar killings by Islamist militants in this Muslim-majority country. Islamic State militants claimed responsibility for the death in a report by the group’s Amaq News Agency, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors extremist activity online. Responsibility for many other attacks had been claimed either by the Islamic State or a branch of Al Qaeda, but the Bangladeshi government has persistently denied the presence of such extremist networks in the country. The police suspected the involvement of the student wing of the country’s largest religious political party, Jamaat-e-Islami, because a man arrested in connection with a similar killing of a Hindu priest in the same district three weeks ago claimed membership in that group, said Gopinath Kanjilal, an assistant superintendent of the police for the Jhenaidah district in southwestern Bangladesh, where the attack occurred. A Jamaat leader in the region, Shah Alam, interviewed by phone, denied that the group’s student wing was responsible for the killings. The priest killed on Friday, Shyamanada Das, 55, was picking flowers for his prayers shortly after 5 a.m. when three men wearing helmets pulled up on a motorcycle, Mr. Kanjilal said. Two of the men jumped off and attacked the priest with machetes, killing him with blows mostly to the back of his neck, Mr. Kanjilal said. More than 40 people have been killed in Bangladesh in a series of attacks that began in early 2013. The attacks initially targeted bloggers but then expanded to include foreigners, gay activists and members of religious minorities. In an effort to forestall further violence, the government announced a crackdown in early June and has arrested more than 11,000 people, 194 of them said to be linked to militant networks. Kajal Debnath, a presidium member of the Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council, said that Hindus, particularly in rural villages, are terrified and call his organization daily wondering if they will survive the latest outbreak of killings. They have been victims of oppression in Bangladesh for decades and do not know why they have suddenly become the “prime target of a series of similar killings,” he said. “We are really feeling very helpless,” he said. On Friday, a woman who had been speaking with Mr. Das at the time of the attack screamed for help, and volunteers rushed him to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead, Mr. Kanjilal said. The priest had been traveling and had returned to his home only the previous evening, Mr. Kanjilal said. His temple is close to a highway connecting the area with Dhaka, the capital, about 120 miles away. The killing was similar to one last month of Anando Gopal Ganguly, 68, a Hindu priest, Mr. Kanjilal said. Mr. Ganguly was riding a bicycle in an isolated rural area not far from his home when three men on a motorcycle came up from behind to attack him. The Islamic State also claimed responsibility for the death of Mr. Ganguly in a report by Amaq, according to the SITE Intelligence Group. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/02/world/asia/bangladesh-hindu-priest-killed-jhenaidah.html
Of course, all that has nothing to do with Islam. Gun control, machete control, perhaps these attackers were all self-hating gays.
That article must be a fabricate hit piece, because surely this was a gang of Tea Party evangelical Christians who did this. According to the political correctness agenda that we have all been propagandized with, it just HAS to be.
FranchiseBlade is still looking for the Greeks or Armenians who did it. glynch thinks it's Israel's fault - probably it was the Mossad. Mathloom says it's all justified because the USA have bases somewhere.
In the past few days: A 13-year old Israeli girl was stabbed to death while sleeping in her bed. Crusader? Racist? Occupier? An Egyptian Christian priest was murdered by a radical Muslim. Crusader? Occupier? Racist? Suicide bomber struck a Jordan-Syrian border-crossing, killing 6. Crusaders? Occupiers? Racists? 20 people killed in a hostage situation by radical militant Muslims. Crusaders? Racists? Occupiers?
You've convinced me. We must declare war against Islam. That's the solution. We must ban all Muslims. We must order immediate shutdowns of every mosque in the U.S., and we must deport all the Muslims in the U.S. I think if we do this, we'll be assured that we'll never have to worry about a mass shooting ever again. Eliminate the source, eliminate the problem. Sounds right to me.
Is that the easy way out in a debate with ATW about Islam? Just assume he wants to kill all Muslims? Damn, debating is so easy when you can beat the **** out of strawmen.
Well, what's your solution? Shall we curtail the Muslim religion? Shall we increase surveillance efforts on anyone who is Muslim? If you can think of a better solution, I'm all ears.
Of course it does. Only a few delusional people are left saying it has *nothing* to do with Islam. References to other cases in the US in particular seems odd or borderline irrelevant to Bangladesh, other than bringing up separate arguments. On the line of those arguments, I've never understood why we can't treat an issue on multiple fronts. If radicalized Islamists are a big problem, and they are, then their easy access to weaponry in America can also be a topic, IMHO. They don't exclude one another, at all.
BTW, I didn't say he said to kill all Muslims. If you're going to point out a flaw in my argument, at least be accurate.
Because many people out there don't want to think about a multi-pronged solution to a problem. They want to be idiots like Trump and say "Ban all Muslims," or "Ban all guns." It's a complicated issue that requires critical thinking and primary, secondary, tertiary, etc. solutions. The religion argument is bull****, anyway. I've had more than one friend ask me how I could possibly remain Catholic after the priest abuse scandal. Well, my ****ing religion doesn't say anything about priests having the right to molest children. Those are sick ****ing individuals that need to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. But what am I supposed to do, apologize for Catholicism every time a pedophile priest is uncovered? **** that ****. People take religion and twist it around- all the time. That goes for Muslims, Catholics, etc. You want a solution to the problem? Stop with all silliness about trying to convince billions of people that their religion sucks. You look at all the terrorist incidents- and not just from the brown people- and you figure out what can be done in the future to prevent this. Do you limit certain types of guns? How do you make it difficult for someone to create a bomb? Do you convert funds to local police departments and pay police officers extremely high salaries so we can increase our police force? Metal detectors? Do you take away those stupid Gun Free Zone signs? Do you make sure there is at least 1 person in management for every commercial and public entity which has a lot of people who brings a gun to work and can use it in the case of an active shooter? Do you purchase the door jamb items or metal plates which make it impossible for an active shooter to shoot through the door? Do you have metal detectors at every public place, including movie theaters? Do you have a tear gas activation device which can be activated throughout a building in the case of an active shooter? Do you increase surveillance on suspected terrorists? Do you impose heavy sanctions on countries that sponsor terrorism? Do you increase security guards in public places? What do you do in terms of preparing citizens (including children in school) for active shooting situations? So, things like that.
Who the **** here besides idiots like RocketLegend are asking to 'ban all Muslims' here? Seriously? ATW? Bigtexxx? I really don't see anyone besides a couple of obvious trolls. You are punching a strawman. And when liberals are stating that Islam is no more different than any other religion, they are EXACTLY deflecting blame from Islam. No one, even ATW is denying that there are multiple reasons for the predicament of Islamic extremism. But there is something inherent within Islam also and many posters are still denying it.
I don't know why people keep trying to bring up Orlando anytime an incident happens. That happened on US soil. Much different and the significance of the back story is important.
It's no more inherent in Islam than in the Old Testament. It's simply that many Catholics and Christians have moved beyond that (although it hasn't been that long ago relatively when you look at lynchings performed in the name of God). And many Muslims haven't. If you're going to look at it that way, then many religions, based on their Holy Books, are bad. Anyone that uses any belief system to justify murder or violence is wrong. There, that's my philosophy. You can believe what you want. I'm not calling Islam the religion of peace, but I'm not calling it the religion of death, either. And if you want to look at one of the primary world leaders who made a specific point not to blame Islam for the worst tragedy in American history, look no further than your conservative leader George W. Bush.
As someone who was born and raised Catholic, I'd like to address that. I believe that if your religion preaches that homosexuality is a sin punishable to an eternity of hell fire, but that if you if you become a priest and lead a life of celibacy, then you have a straight line to Heaven, you have created a culture that funnels strong minded homosexuals away from the church and weak minded homosexuals into the priesthood. I'm in no way, shape or form suggesting that all priests are weak minded homosexuals. I'm just suggesting that the religion has instituted a mechanism that over time, has contributed to this culture. This problem with the Catholic church, and the problems we are having with Islamic radicalization are similar (IMHO) in that they are very complex issues. Catholicism and Islam and other religions offer wonderful things to many people, and I don't think we should--or can--completely eradicate religion. But I very much do think it needs to be part of the discussion. There are things written in religious tomes thousands of years ago--often patriarchal and intolerant--that have no place in today's society.
