DHAKA: Gunmen attac­ked a restaurant popular with expatriates in the diplomatic quarter of the Bangladeshi capital on Friday and took hostages, including several foreigners.

Eight to nine gunmen attacked the Holey Artisan restaurant in the upscale Gulshan area of Dhaka and according to an official of the local administration, police were in a standoff with the assailants well past midnight.

The militant Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack, saying that it had killed as many as 20 people. Bangladeshi sources put the death toll at two — both policemen.

According to CNN, 20 people were being held in the restaurant.

A resident near the scene of the attack said he could hear sporadic gunfire nearly three hours after the attack began at 9.20pm. “It is chaos out there. The streets are blocked. There are dozens of police commandos,” said Tarique Mir.

Bangladesh has seen an increase in militant violence over the last year. Deadly attacks have been mounted against atheists and members of religious minorities in the country of 160 million people, with attackers often using machetes.

Militants killed two foreigners last year, leading several Western firms involved in the country’s $25 billion garment sector to temporarily halt visits to Dhaka.

Both Islamic State and Al Qaeda have claimed responsibility for militant attacks in the country. But the government denies foreign militant organisations are involved and blames two local groups, Ansar al Islam and Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen.

The US State Department said all Americans working at the Dhaka mission had been accounted for. A spokesman said in Washington the situation was “very fluid, very live”.

Published in Dawn, July 2nd, 2016