Bangladesh gunmen made no demands, ISIS not involved: Minister

Dhaka: Seven militants who killed 20 people at a Dhaka restaurant made no demands and a person taken alive by police was only a suspect admitted in hospital, Bangladesh's home minister said on Sunday, rejecting Islamic State's claims of responsibility.

The gunmen stormed the upmarket restaurant in the diplomatic zone late on Friday and killed their mostly non-Muslim hostages, including nine Italians, seven Japanese and a citizen each from the United States and India.

Three of the six gunmen killed were under 22 years of age and had been missing for six months, Asaduzzaman Khan told Reuters in an interview at his Dhaka home.

Police and government officials have said the attackers were from well-off Bangladeshi families, a rarity and an indication that religious radicalisation was widening its scope.

Claiming responsibility, Islamic State warned citizens of "crusader countries" - that is, traditionally Christian western states - in a statement that they would not be safe "as long as their aircraft are killing Muslims".

It also posted pictures of five grinning fighters in front of a black flag who it said were involved in the attack, according to the SITE monitoring website.

But Khan said Islamic State was not involved, reiterating the government's position that home-grown militants were responsible for a spate of killings in the country over the past 18 months, including the latest one.

Asked about the photos, the minister pointed to a wall behind him and said: "If I fix a poster of IS here and stand with a machine gun, will it establish that IS is here?"

The minister has blamed Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh, which claims to represent Islamic State in Bangladesh but has no proven links to it.

Security experts believe the suspect, who was hospitalised with serious injuries, would be crucial to the investigation into the attack. Khan said it was not clear if he was involved.

Islamic State also claimed responsibility for two bombings overnight in Baghdad that killed nearly 120 people and wounded 200, most of them in a busy shopping area while residents celebrated the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

Reacting to the two attacks over the past three days, Pope Francis asked people attending noon prayer at the Vatican in Rome to pray for the victims and their families.

Late on Sunday in Bangladesh, hundreds of men, women and children held a candle light vigil near Dhaka’s Shaheed Minar (Martyr's Monument) to pay respect to those who lost their lives.

"We don't want this," Nasima, a textile industry worker, told Reuters Television. "Please stop this, stop this, stop this from our society, from our country, I want to live in peace."

As Dhaka limped back to normal life, experts questioned the delay in launching the offensive against the militants. More than 100 commandos stormed the restaurant nearly 10 hours after the siege began, under an operation code-named 'Thunderbolt'.

Analysts say that as Islamic State loses territory in Iraq and Syria and its finances get drained, it may be trying to build affiliates in countries such as Bangladesh for jihadists to launch attacks locally and cheaply.

Rich Families

Deputy Inspector General of Police Shahidur Rahman said on Sunday that authorities were investigating any connection between the attackers and transnational groups such as Islamic State or al-Qaeda.

He said the militants were mostly educated and from well-off families, but declined to give any more details. On Saturday police released pictures of five dead militants, most of them wearing grey T-shirts.

National police chief Shahidul Hoque said all the gunmen were Bangladeshis. "Five of them were listed as militants and law enforcers made several drives to arrest them," he said.

Whoever was responsible, the attack marked a major escalation in violence by militants demanding Islamic rule in Bangladesh, whose 160 million people are mostly Muslim.

Previous attacks have mostly singled out individuals advocating a secular or liberal lifestyle, or religious minorities.

Reciting Koran Verse

Friday night's attack, during the final days of Ramadan, was more coordinated than the previous assaults.

Gunmen singled out foreigners as soon as they stormed through the doors of the restaurant popular with expatriates. They ordered all Bangladeshis to stand up before the killing began, a source briefed on the investigation said.

The Bangladeshis were later told to close their eyes and recite verses from the Koran. One militant cursed a Bangladeshi for eating with non-Muslims during Ramadan, the source said.

The Islamic State-affiliated Amaq news agency claimed in a report on Saturday that the militants identified and released Muslim patrons from the Dhaka restaurant, SITE said.

The victims also included at least three Bangladeshis or people of Bangladeshi descent.

The militants hacked most of their victims with machetes, leaving their bleeding bodies on the floor.