Gunmen have stormed a restaurant in the diplomatic quarter of Dhaka, taking hostages while engaging security forces in a gunbattle that has left two officers dead, authorities say. Some people in the restaurant managed to run to the rooftop and escape, but one witness says about 35 people are still trapped inside, including some foreigners.
The hostage crisis was unusual for Bangladesh, but comes after several years of deadly attacks by radical Islamists targeting secular writers, publishers and members of Bangladesh's minority religious communities. Here is a list of those attacks, starting in 2013:
15 February, 2013: Assailants wielding machetes kill secular blogger Ahmed Rajib Haider after he posts comments online about religious fundamentalism. [Firstpost] Read more
