Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday led the nation in paying homage to the 20 slain hostages, including an Indian, at a solemn ceremony here as the country mourned the victims of the worst terror attack on its soil.
Diplomats, politicians and people from across the different strata of society paid tributes and placed wreaths during the ceremony at the Bangladesh Army Stadium in Dhaka cantonment which drew a huge crowd despite drizzle.
Islamist terrorists hacked to death 20 hostages after they stormed a cafe popular with expatriates and diplomats in Dhaka’s diplomatic zone on Friday.
At the ceremony, the caskets, bearing the flags of India, Italy, Bangladesh, Japan and the United States -- signifying the nationalities of the foreigners killed -- were placed on a raised platform.
Hasina placed floral wreaths at the caskets of the victims.
Autopsy on the bodies had been conducted earlier at the Combined Military Hospital in Dhaka.
Of those killed, 18 were foreigners -- nine Italians, seven Japanese, one American of Bangladeshi-origin and an Indian, 19-year-old Tarishi Jain.
Two other Bangladeshis were also among the hostages slaughtered.
The bodies of two Bangladeshis and one Bangladeshi-born US citizen were handed over to the relatives for subsequent rituals and burial after the ceremony that was held on the second day of the two-day nationwide mourning declared in the country.
Officials said the rest of the bodies of foreign nationals would be handed over to the respective embassies.
Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the killing of the hostages, mostly foreigners, and two police officers during the 12-hour siege that ended on Saturday after the army stormed the Holey Artisan Bakery, killing six attackers and capturing one alive.
However, Bangladesh has blamed ‘homegrown’ Islamist terrorists and Pakistan’s spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence for the country’s worst terror attack, ruling out the role of the IS.
IMAGE: Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina pays tribute to the victims of Dhaka Attack at the Bangladesh Army Stadium in Dhaka on Monday. Photograph: Adnan Abidi/Reuters
