Twenty hostages were killed in a 10-hour standoff between Islamic State terrorists who took over a bakery in Bangladesh and local police. The police stormed the bakery, rescuing another 13 hostages and killing six terrorists, according to reports.
The Associated Press quoted the father of one of the survivors who said the attackers spared those who could recite verses from the Qoran.
The attack started around 9 p.m. local time when militants opened gunfire at a bakery Friday night inside the diplomatic zone of Dhaka, Bangladesh before about 34 people hostage.
The terrorists killed two police officers and wounded 26 other people before taking 40 hostages inside the Holey Artisan Bakery building and yelling “Allahu Akbar,” the Associated Press reported.
Ten of the 26 wounded have been listed as being in critical condition, six of whom are on life support, according to hospital staff.
A group of heavily armed law enforcement officers swarmed the scene following the attack, but were immediately blocked outside the building.
The U.S. Embassy in Dhaka advised people over Twitter to shelter in place nearby.
Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh’s prime minister, condemned the attack.
“Because of the effort of the joint force, the terrorists could not flee,” Hasina said in a nationally televised speech, according to the AP. “Anyone who believes in religion cannot do such act. They do not have any religion, their only religion is terrorism.”
The terrorist attack is the second this week by the Islamic State after three suicide bombers killed more than 40 people and injured 140 others at Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport.
