NEW DELHI (AP) – The bodies of the seven Japanese killed in a militant attack in Bangladesh returned to home Tuesday as investigators in Dhaka searched for clues about the possible masterminds behind the gruesome attack that left 28 dead.
A Japanese government plane took the bodies back to Tokyo’s Haneda Airport, where the bodies, in boxes covered with white cloth, were lowered slowly in pairs from the high cargo bay of the 747 and lined up on the tarmac.
Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida, Bangladesh Ambassador Rabab Fatima and other officials laid bouquets of flowers in between the boxes.
In Dhaka, authorities were still holding five of the 13 hostages rescued when commandos stormed the restaurant in Dhaka’s diplomatic zone Saturday morning, killing six of the attackers and capturing one.
Bangladesh police chief A.K.M. Shahidul Haque said authorities would be interrogating two men, including a suspected militant, who were detained during Saturday’s operation. He would not say whether either had been among those counted as hostages, only that they were being treated in a hospital for unspecified injuries.