Ministry reveals identities of Italian victims in Dhaka restaurant attack

Nine out of the 20 civilians killed in Friday's terror attack in Dhaka restaurant in Bangladesh were Italians, the Italian foreign ministry has confirmed in a statement on its website.

The victims include four men and five women, one of whom was pregnant. Their names were revealed by the ministry on Saturday. According to local media reports, most of them were textile entrepreneurs travelling to Bangladesh for work reasons.

An airplane carrying officials from the Italian government has reached the Bangladesh capital with the aim to bring the remains of the victims back to Italy as soon as possible, ANSA news agency said.

Seven Japanese, two Bangladeshis, a Bangladeshi-born U.S. citizen and an Indian female student were the other victims of the attack on the Spanish restaurant in Dhaka, which was popular with foreigners.

Seven gunmen armed with blades, guns and bombs killed the victims soon after they stormed the restaurant. They also murdered two Bangladesh police officers.

"This is the day of mourning for our citizens all together, united like a family," said Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi on Saturday.

"Italy does not retreat," Renzi said, reiterating his country's commitment to combat international terrorism and militancy.

Around five hours into the attack, according to a jihadist threat monitoring portal, SITE Intelligence Group, Islamic State claimed its responsibility of attacking the upmarket restaurant. Enditem