TOKYO, July 2 (Xinhua) -- Japanese government officials said Saturday that seven of its nationals unaccounted for in the wake of a deadly terror attack in Bangladesh have been confirmed dead.
One Japanese national was rescued from the violent 12-hour siege staged by suspected Islamic State militants that took place in a cafe in the Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka and killed at least 20 civilians, officials here also confirmed.
Prior to receiving the news about the fate of the seven missing Japanese hostages, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had during an earlier press briefing on Saturday evening labeled the terrorist attack as an "inhumane atrocity."
"I feel profound anger that so many innocent people have lost their lives in this savage act of heinous terrorism," Abe told a press briefing on Saturday evening, adding that the siege had sparked deep indignation and strong condemnation from the international community.
Japan's top government spokesperson, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, reconfirmed that one Japanese hostage was rescued and is being treated in hospital for non-critical gunshot wounds, and that two Sri Lankans were also among the 13 rescued by Bangladesh's elite forces and police personnel who stormed the cafe and finally brought the hostage crisis to an end.
The wounded Japanese man and the 7 Japanese nationals who were killed in the siege all worked for the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), according to local media, and were dining together at the cafe when the attack occurred.
They were separated as they all sought refuge independently when the gunmen stormed the building shouting "Allahu akbar!" ("God is great" in Arabic) before opening fire.
JICA in a press conference earlier on Saturday confirmed that seven Japanese nationals working as consultants on its development projects in Bangladesh remained unaccounted for in the aftermath of the deadly attack at the cafe, while strongly condemning the attack.
"I feel deeply outraged that people working to engineer the development of Bangladesh have been caught up in this," Shinichi Kitaoka, the head of JICA said.
Abe while also strongly condemning the attack, has called for the utmost cooperation from the Bangladesh government and relevant officials on the matter as investigations continue through the night and in the upcoming days, while Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida and his Bangladesh counterpart Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali have agreed to continue to liaise closely on the crisis.
Responsibility for the attack has been claimed by the Islamic State militant group, with reports stating that seven young men wielding guns entered the popular Holey Artisan Bakery restaurant in the upscale Gulshan diplomatic region of Bangladeshi's capital at around 8:45 p.m. local time on Friday evening.
Six of the gunmen were killed while one was captured and detained alive.
Several police officers were killed during the operation, and scores of people were left wounded after the attack, although their identities, including their nationalities are as yet unknown, with the killed hostages likely comprising mainly Italians and Japanese, but also Sri Lankans, Indians as well as locals, media here have reported.
The Japanese government will dispatch its counter-terrorism intelligence unit to Dhaka, officials here said, with the team being joined by senior vice foreign minister Seiji Kihara.
Abe said he has ordered his officials to take whatever means necessary to locate and identify those involved in the hostage situation and ensure that the necessary information reaches Japan as swiftly as possible.
All Japanese living, visiting or planning to visit Bangladesh have been issued with a warning by the Foreign Ministry in Tokyo to remain vigilant in and around government, public transport facilities, popular tourist sites and places that attract a lot of people in Bangladesh.
The ministry indicted that further terror attacks could be possible in the region as the Islamic State militant group has been increasingly targeting religious, secularist and other minority groups as well as foreigners in Bangladesh, although the scale and public nature of the latest attack is unprecedented.
