All the seven Japanese citizens who were previously unaccounted for after a 12-hour hostage crisis in Dhaka were found and pronounced dead at a local hospital, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said at a news conference in Tokyo late Saturday night.
The siege, which broke out Friday night at a cafe in the capital’s diplomatic zone, left 20 hostages dead, including the seven Japanese and at least nine Italians. Most of the dead were people who were visiting or temporarily working in Bangladesh. In addition, six militants were killed by local security forces during the melee.
The seven Japanese comprised five men and two women, according to Suga. He declined to release their names, saying the government has not yet obtained the consent of the survivors’ families.