Determined to root out terrorism: Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina

DHAKA: Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said on Saturday that 13 hostages were rescued from a besieged cafe in Dhaka on Saturday, but some had been killed.Hasina said six gunmen had also been killed and one had been captured alive in a dawn raid on the cafe by Bangladeshi commandos."Because of the effort of the joint force, the terrorists could not flee," Hasina said in a nationally televised speech, vowing to fight militant attacks in the country."It was an extremely heinous act. What kind of Muslims are these people? They don't have any religion, their only religion is terrorism," Hasina said in a televised speech."People must resist these terrorists. My government is determined to root out terrorism and militancy from Bangladesh," she said.The attack marks an escalation in the growing drumbeat of militant violence to hit the traditionally moderate Muslim-majority nation in the past three years, but with increasing frequency in recent months. Most attacks have been by machete-wielding men singling out individual activists, foreigners and religious minorities.About two dozen atheist writers, publishers, members of religious minorities, social activists and foreign aid workers have been slain since 2013. On Friday, a Hindu temple worker was hacked to death by at least three assailants in southwest Bangladesh. Islamic State and al-Qaida affiliates have claimed responsibility for many of the attacks.Hasina's government has cracked down on domestic radical Islamists. It has accused local terrorists and opposition political parties - especially the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party and its Islamist ally Jamaat-e-Islami - of orchestrating the violence in order to destabilize the nation, which both parties deny.