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20 foreigners killed by Bangladesh hostage-takers: army

– Sharp weapons –

Announcing the end of the siege, officials said that 13 hostages had been rescued after members of an elite force took control of the cafe and shot dead six of the gunmen.

But while Hasina called the outcome a “success”, the security forces later revealed that 20 of those taken captive were killed.

“We’ve recovered 20 bodies. Most them had been brutally hacked to death with sharp weapons,” an army spokesman, Brigadier General Nayeem Ashfaq Chowdhury, told reporters.

Another senior army officer then confirmed that all 20 were foreigners.

“All 20 of the hostages who were killed were foreigners…. Most of them were Italian or Japanese,” Lieutenant Shahab Uddin told AFP without giving an exact breakdown.

A Japanese government official said its Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had told Hasina in a phone call that several Japanese nationals may have been inside. Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni also talked on the phone with his Bangladeshi counterpart Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali.

Foreigners and Bangladeshis could be seen standing outside the upmarket Holey Artisan Bakery cafe after the siege, still awaiting news on their loved ones inside. Commandos could also be seen roaming nearby rooftops.

Witnesses recounted how a massive gunfight erupted on Saturday morning as more than 100 commandos launched the rescue operation, nearly 11 hours after the siege began shortly before 9.30 pm.

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Eight hostages including a foreigner were rescued in the first few minutes of the operation. TV footage showed ambulances rushing some of those who had been freed to a military hospital.

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