Two more witnesses recount fateful night

Two witnesses of the Holey Artisan terror attack yesterday told a Dhaka tribunal how they saw hostages being killed by militants.

Imam Hossain and Shahriar Hossain gave their statements before Anti-Terrorism Special Tribunal. Judge Majibur Rahman of the tribunal set July 16 for the next hearing.

Imam said he was working as a waiter at the upscale eatery on July 1, 2016. Between 8pm and 8:45pm, he went to get some coffee. All of a sudden, he heard gunshots.

“Three of us hid inside the coffee shop. But a group of people broke open the door. They asked us whether we were Muslims. We said yes. They killed a Japanese national in front of us,” said Imam.

Shahriar told the court that between 8:30pm and 8:40pm he was busy making coffee. Once he heard gunshots, he locked the gate. There were four of them, including a foreign national.

After 10-15 minutes, a man named Rohan came and asked if they were Muslims. They replied yes and mentioned they were staff members. Rohan and his associates then took them to the lawn and killed the foreign national, he added.

Yesterday, four more witnesses gave statements and were cross-examined.