Bangladesh is observing the first of two days of national mourning, following a terrorist attack on a Dhaka restaurant that claimed 28 lives.
Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina declared two days of nationwide mourning after the terrorist assault on Holey Artisan Bakery-O'Kitchen - a restaurant in the diplomatic area of Dhaka popular among foreigners - that left 20 hostages dead.
Official sources said the dead hostages included nine Italians, seven Japanese, two Bangladeshis, an American, and an Indian.
Two policemen were also killed in a shootout with the assailants at the beginning of the 12-hour assault.
Six of the seven attackers were also killed, while the remaining assailant was captured alive and detained following an operation by security forces and soldiers that secured the release of 13 other hostages on Saturday morning.
The country's national flags are flying at half mast in remembrance of the victims.
The attack also left 26 people, mainly police officers, injured.
Police have confirmed all the attackers were Bangladeshis, including five wanted rebels.
"We had been searching for them in different places across the country," said Inspector General of Police AKM Shahidul Hoque.
While the attack was claimed by the Islamic State as well as the Al-Qaeda branch in the Indian subcontinent, Bangladeshi authorities maintain such assaults are the work of homegrown outfits.
Bangladesh, a Muslim-majority and highly populous country, has been hit by Islamist-style targeted attacks since 2013, but no large terrorist attacks in the past decade.
Most victims of the targeted killings, which intensified in 2015, have been members of religious minorities, gay activists, secular thinkers and foreigners.
