by Naim-Ul-Karim
DHAKA, July 1 (Xinhua) -- A number of commemorative events were held in Bangladesh capital Dhaka on Saturday, one year after the country's most horrific terror attack when dozens of people were killed, mostly foreigners.
People of all strata of life paid tributes to the victims since Saturday morning.
Five gunmen stormed the Holey Artisan Bakery cafe in Dhaka's diplomatic area Gulshan on July 1, 2016.
They then brutally killed the hostages with guns and machetes, and used the victims' phones to publish images of the bodies on the social media.
Around 12 hours later, Bangladesh Army commandos stormed the restaurant. Five attackers were killed and one was arrested.
Two police officers were also killed in the attack.
To allow mourners to pay respects to the victims of the country's worst terrorist attack on its first anniversary, the cafe building was opened to the public on Saturday.
Mourners, including politicians and foreign diplomats gathered at the scene of the massacre, placed wreaths and prayed for the departed souls.
Also through many other programs friends and relatives commemorated the victims in Dhaka and elsewhere in the country.
Seventeen of the victims of the militant attack were foreign nationals. Nine victims were Italian and seven were Japanese.
Ruling Bangladesh Awami League party General Secretary Obaidul Quader after paying respects told journalists that militancy has not been totally wiped out from the country but it has been weakened.
He urged people to fight the sponsors of terrorism.
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) had then claimed responsibility for the Dhaka cafe attack. But Bangladeshi authorities rejected the claim, saying operatives of a banned local militant outfit plotted the attack to boast about their existence.
Neo-JMB, an offshoot of banned militant outfit Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), is blamed for the attack.
Tamim Ahmed Chowdhury, a Bangladeshi-Canadian, and Sarwar Jahan, identified as Neo JMB chief who was killed during a raid on Oct. 8 last year, have been blamed as the mastermind of the brutal attack.
Chowdhury was also killed in a police raid on Aug. 27 last year. Since the cafe attack, Bangladeshi police have conducted series of large-scale operations against militants, in which dozens of militants were killed.