Roundup: Briton formally arrested over deadly Dhaka attack case

Police in Bangladesh on Saturday formally arrested a British national in connection with the deadly attack at a Spanish cafe in capital Dhaka's diplomatic enclave Gulshan last month.

Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime unit of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) on Saturday also sought a 10-day remand for Hasnat Karim, a British-Bangladeshi man and a former North South University teacher, while seven-day for Canadian university student Tahmid Hasib, who along with Hasnat was arrested on Aug. 3 on suspicion of having links with the Gulshan attackers.

Metropolitan Magistrate in Dhaka Imdadul Haque placed Hasnat on an eight-day fresh remand after showing him arrested in the case on Saturday.

Also on Saturday Metropolitan Magistrate Judge Golam Nabi granted a six-day fresh remand for Tahmid.

The Briton is the first person to be shown arrested in the Gulshan terror case.

The duo were produced before the Dhaka courts Saturday on completion of their eight-day remand.

The court of Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Nurunnahar Yasmin on Aug. 4 granted eight days of remand for each of two key suspects who were inside the cafe during the terror attack.

The whereabouts of the Spanish cafe attack survivors -- Karim and Khan - remained a mystery in the aftermath of Bangladesh's first-ever hostage crisis on July 1 in which 18 foreigners were killed.

The arrests came a day after Bangladesh announced a cash reward of 4 million taka (about 50,632 U.S. dollars) to anyone giving information leading to the arrest of the militant kingpins -- Tamim Ahmed Chowdhury and former army officer Syed Md Ziaul Haque.

Canadian-Bangladeshi Tamim Ahmed Chowdhury along with former army officer Syed Md Ziaul Haque, who has been dismissed for a coup attempt, plotted to attack Spanish cafe in Dhaka's diplomatic enclave Gulshan, police had earlier said.

Both Chowdhury and Haque were also behind the attack near the country's largest Sholakia Eid prayer venue on July 7 and the militants gunned down in Dhaka's downtown Kalyanpur area during a raid on July 26.

Responsibility for the Gulshan attack has been claimed by the Islamic State group, an assertion rejected by the authorities, who blamed "homegrown" terrorists for the incident. Six of the gunmen were killed while one was captured and detained alive, but he later died in hospital.

Bangladesh has pointed finger at the banned Islamist outfit Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) for the terror ttack at the Spanish restaurant in Dhaka's diplomatic enclave Gulshan on July 1 that left 22 people, including 18 foreigners and two police officers dead.

JMB, campaigning for establishment of Islamic rule in Bangladesh, carried out a series of bombing attacks in 63 out of the country's 64 districts, including capital Dhaka on Aug. 17, 2005, leaving two people dead and 150 others injured.

Hundreds of JMB leaders and activists were rounded up while six top leaders of the group, including Shaikh Abdur Rahman, were hanged in 2007.

Police said militants gunned down in Dhaka's Kalyanpur area during a raid on July 26 were involved with JMB.

Before the wounds of the July 1 deadly terror attack had even begun to heal, Bangladesh suffered a fresh blow on July 7 when terrorists attacked Muslims' Eid prayers.

At least four people were killed, including two police officers and one of the attackers, after several explosions and gunfire took place at the entrance of the country's largest Sholakia Eid prayer venue in Kishoreganj district, some 117 km northeast of Dhaka, on the morning of July 7. Endit