Solved case · 2016
Also known as Operation Thunderbolt (2016) · Holey Artisan terrorist attack
Gulshan attack locationCredit: Eugen Simion 14CC BY-SA 4.0SourceThe short answer
On the night of 1 July 2016, five gunmen took hostages at the Holey Artisan Bakery in Dhaka's Gulshan neighborhood, killing 29 people including 20 hostages and two police officers before a military commando raid ended the siege the next morning.
No one's coverage is attached to this file yet.
Know great coverage of this case?
A documentary, a podcast episode, a careful long-form video. Suggest it and an editor will review it before it appears here.
Suggest coverage for July 2016 Dhaka AttackOn the evening of 1 July 2016, five armed attackers entered the Holey Artisan Bakery in the Gulshan Thana area of Dhaka, Bangladesh, carrying crude bombs, pistols, assault rifles, and at least one sword. They opened fire indiscriminately, detonated explosives, and took dozens of people hostage, including many foreign nationals. Restaurant staff hid in a cramped second-floor restroom while the attackers moved through the building, separating Muslims from non-Muslims and reportedly sparing those who could recite verses from the Quran.
Police officers, including detective Rabiul Islam and officer-in-charge Salahuddin Ahmed, responded to the gunfire and attempted to intervene. Both officers were killed by the attackers, who threw grenades and fired on police as a cordon was established with support from the Rapid Action Battalion and Border Guard Bangladesh. Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was briefed on the unfolding crisis and ordered a military response.
In the early hours of 2 July, the Bangladesh Armed Forces launched a counter-assault codenamed Operation Thunderbolt, led by the 1st Para-Commando Battalion under operational commander Brigadier General Mujibur Rahman. Commandos, supported by armored personnel carriers, breached the building around 07:40 local time and secured the site within roughly 50 minutes. Thirteen hostages were rescued alive. Five attackers were killed in the operation and a sixth individual was captured. A bakery employee was mistakenly killed by commandos during the raid, having been misidentified as an attacker.
In total, 29 people were killed: 20 hostages (17 foreign nationals and three Bangladeshis), two police officers, five attackers, and two bakery staff members. Victims included nine Italian citizens, seven Japanese nationals associated with the Japan International Cooperation Agency, and Tarishi Jain, a 19-year-old Indian student at the University of California, Berkeley. Autopsies reportedly indicated that the Italian victims had been tortured before death. Fifty other people, mostly police personnel, were injured.
The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack and released photographs of the attackers, who were identified by Bangladeshi police as Nibras Islam, Rohan Imtiaz, Meer Saameh Mubasheer, Khairul Islam, and Shafiqul Islam — young, well-educated men from affluent Bangladeshi families. Bangladesh's then-Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan stated the attackers belonged to Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh rather than being directly affiliated with the Islamic State.
Subsequent law-enforcement operations targeted individuals believed connected to the attack's planning and logistics, including raids that killed several suspected militant figures in the following months. In December 2018, eight people accused of helping plan and supply weapons for the attack went on trial before a special tribunal in Dhaka. In November 2019, seven were convicted and sentenced to death, and one was acquitted. Following appeal proceedings, the death sentences of the seven convicted individuals were later commuted to life imprisonment.
Five armed attackers storm the Holey Artisan Bakery in Gulshan, Dhaka, taking hostages and opening fire; two police officers are later killed while responding.
Bangladesh Armed Forces launch Operation Thunderbolt at approximately 07:40 local time, ending the siege; five attackers are killed, one is captured, and 13 hostages are rescued.
Bodies of nine Italian victims and seven Japanese victims are repatriated to Italy and Japan respectively.
An injured bakery staff member dies at Dhaka Medical College Hospital, raising the death toll.
Police arrest three people, including a North South University professor, for renting a flat allegedly used by the attackers.
Police raid an apartment in Kallyanpur, killing nine and arresting one suspect believed linked to the same militant group.
Tamim Chowdhury, described as the attack's mastermind, is killed in a raid on an Islamic State safehouse in Dhaka.
Chowdhury's deputy, referred to as Murad, is killed in another raid in Dhaka's Rupnagar area.
Bangladeshi police kill Nurul Islam Marjan, a wanted commander of a Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh splinter group linked to the attack.
Counterterrorism forces arrest Jahangir Alam, a suspected key planner of the attack, in Tangail District.
Trial opens before a special tribunal in Dhaka for eight people accused of helping plan and supply weapons for the attack.
Seven defendants are convicted and sentenced to death; one is acquitted.
Bangladesh's Supreme Court uploads the full verdict text commuting the seven death sentences to life imprisonment until natural death.
Victims first. Every legal label is set from public records and court outcomes, not from the prose.
Bangladeshi hostage who was offered release but refused to leave his friends and was killed[3]
Assistant Commissioner, Detective Branch, Dhaka Metropolitan Police, killed responding to the attack[3]
Officer-in-charge of Banani police station, killed responding to the attack[3]
19-year-old Indian national and University of California, Berkeley student, killed in the attack[3]
Charged under Section 54 CrPC with renting a flat to the Holey Artisan Bakery attackers and withholding tenant information from police, as Gias Uddin Ahsan's nephew; arrested 16 July 2016 alongside his uncle and building manager Mahbubur Rahman Tuhin, granted bail after a court hearing. No further trial outcome found in available sourcing.[3]
Charged under Section 54 CrPC with renting a flat to the Holey Artisan Bakery attackers and withholding tenant information from police; arrested 16 July 2016 as North South University professor and dean, granted bail after a court hearing. No further trial outcome found in available sourcing; not among the 8 defendants convicted/sentenced in the main 2019 Holey Artisan tribunal verdict.[3]
Identified by Bangladeshi police as one of five gunmen; killed during the rescue operation[3]
Charged under Section 54 CrPC with renting a flat to the Holey Artisan Bakery attackers and withholding tenant information from police, as manager of the Bashundhara Residential Area building; arrested 16 July 2016 alongside owner Gias Uddin Ahsan and Ahsan's nephew Alam Chowdhury, granted bail after a court hearing. No further trial outcome found in available sourcing.[3]
Identified by Bangladeshi police as one of five gunmen; killed during the rescue operation[3]
Identified by Bangladeshi police as one of five gunmen; killed during the rescue operation, IS claimed him among the attackers[3]
Identified by Bangladeshi police as the Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) splinter-group commander who planned and directed the July 2016 Holey Artisan Bakery attack; he was shot dead by police on 6 January 2017, so was never prosecuted.[3]
Identified by Bangladeshi police as one of five gunmen; killed during the rescue operation[3]
Identified by Bangladeshi police as one of five gunmen (also referred to as Shafiqul Islam Ujjal); killed during the rescue operation[3]
Identified as the attacker who masterminded and directed the July 2016 Dhaka attack; killed in a raid on an Islamic State safehouse in Dhaka on 27 August 2016, so was never prosecuted.[3]
Officially named a person of interest by Bangladeshi authorities; not charged. Arrested by counterterrorism forces on the night of 13 January 2017 in Tangail District as a suspect believed to be a key planner of the July 2016 Holey Artisan Bakery attack; no confirmed formal charge, chargesheet inclusion, or trial outcome was found in available sourcing. He does not appear among the 8 militants formally indicted in the main Holey Artisan tribunal case.[3]
Dhaka Metropolitan Police Commissioner who led officers in an attempt to rescue civilians during the siege[3]
Brigadier General and operational commander of the 1st Para-Commando Battalion leading Operation Thunderbolt[3]
Coverage is not a source: every fact in this file rests on the records below.
Are you family of someone named in this file? Corrections and removal requests from victims’ families are prioritized.
SOLVEDListenShankhari Bazaar, Old Dhaka, Bangladesh · 2010s
On 9 December 2012, 24-year-old tailor Biswajit Das was beaten to death in Old Dhaka, Bangladesh, by activists of the Bangladesh Chhatra League who mistook him for an opposition supporter during clashes tied to a nationwide blockade.
UNSOLVEDListenDhaka and surrounding districts, East Pakistan (present-day Bangladesh) · 1960s
In January 1964, following an alleged theft of a relic from the Hazratbal shrine in Kashmir, mass communal violence targeted Bengali Hindus across East Pakistan, including Khulna, Dhaka, Narayanganj, and Rajshahi, resulting in mass killings, arson, rape, and abduction, and driving large numbers of refugees into India.
SOLVEDListenJalladkhana Killing Field, Mirpur · 1990s
During the 1971 Bangladesh genocide, an abandoned pump house in Mirpur, Dhaka known as Jalladkhana was used by the Pakistan Army and local collaborators as a killing site where detained victims were beheaded and thrown into a well and mass graves.
Credit: Pax Ahimsa GethenCC BY-SA 4.0SourceSOLVEDListenPulse nightclub, Orlando, Florida, United States · 2016
On June 12, 2016, Omar Mateen, identified by police as the gunman, shot and killed 49 people and wounded 58 others at Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, during a Latin Night event, before being fatally shot by police after a three-hour standoff.
Credit: uploader and the RNAOCC BY-SA 3.0SourceSOLVEDListenYonge Street, North York City Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada · 2018
On April 23, 2018, a man drove a rented van into pedestrians along Yonge Street in Toronto's North York City Centre, killing 11 people and injuring 15 others before being arrested; he was later convicted on all counts and sentenced to life in prison.
Birstall, West Yorkshire, England · 2016
On 16 June 2016, British Labour MP Jo Cox was shot and stabbed to death in Birstall, West Yorkshire, by Thomas Alexander Mair. He was convicted in November 2016 of murder and related offences, with the judge finding the killing was an act of terrorism motivated by white supremacist and neo-Nazi ideology. Mair received a whole life order.
