Dhaka: Even as Bangladesh grapples with last week's massacre that resulted in death of 20 innocent lives with fears of further attacks, the identity of the sixth terrorist who was killed in the clampdown by paramilitary forces is shrouded in mystery.
Although the police said six attackers had been killed during Operation Thunderbolt, they only provided the names and photos of five attackers: Akash, Bikash, Don, Badhon and Ripon.
One of the pictures released by authorities was of an assistant pizza chef, Saiful Choukidar, but it's not yet clear if he was in any way connected to the terrorists.
The photos released by police show Saiful wearing a white chef apron, creating confusion over police claims. Saiful's family however claims he was not a militant.
They say Saiful joined Holey Artisan Bakery as a pizza maker one and a half years ago, having worked in Germany for 10 years.
An employee of cafe told bdnews24.com that the picture of the dead attacker wearing a white shirt resembles his colleague Saiful whose Mini Pizza was popular dish.
Notedly, the ISIS website showed five of the attackers, but Bangladesh authorities said there were seven, six of whom were killed.
None of the photos ‘released by IS’ seem to be of Saiful. Group also reportedly renamed them.
The Amaq news agency, affiliated with IS, also published photos of five smiling young men, each holding what appear to be assault rifles and posing in front of a black IS flag, and identified them as the restaurant attackers, according to the SITE Intelligence Service, which monitors jihadi online activity.
Six attackers were killed during the combined operation while one was arrested alive. However the police IGP claimed that the five of the attackers had JMB connections while the other’s profile will be confirmed after further investigation.
The men belonged to the banned domestic group Jumatul Mujahedeen Bangladesh, or JMB, and their families hadn't heard from them in months, according to police.
The attackers came from affluent, educated families and investigators believe their social networks could hold clues.
Nibras Islam, the face of the Gulshan attackers as shown on the IS website, was believed to have been radicalised recently after he went to study at Monash University in Malaysia.
Islam was missing since January 2016, went to another elite Dhaka School, called Turkish Hopes
Another terrorist MubashirShamim was missing since February 29, 2016. Mubashir was an 'O' Level candidate at Sunnydale School, one of Dhaka's top school.
Rohan Ibne Imtiaz has been recognised as the son of S.M. Imtiaz Khan Babul, a leader of the party's Dhaka City chapter and Bangladesh Olympic Association's deputy secretary general.
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