DHAKA — 2016 · Major Tragedy

Holey Artisan Bakery Attack

SolvedSources: ALast updated: 14 October 2026

On the evening of 1 July 2016, armed militants entered the Holey Artisan Bakery café in Gulshan, Dhaka's diplomatic quarter, and took those inside hostage. During the overnight siege 20 hostages, including Italian, Japanese and Indian nationals, and two police officers who responded were killed; 17 of the victims were foreigners. The siege ended the next morning with an army commando operation in which the attackers were killed. The attack was among the deadliest militant attacks in Bangladesh's history and profoundly changed the country's counter-militancy policy. In 2019 an anti-terrorism tribunal sentenced seven people to death; in 2023 the High Court commuted the sentences to life imprisonment.

Date: 2016
Place: Gulshan, Bangladesh, Dhaka, BD
Category: Major Tragedy
Case Status: Solved
Coordinates: 23.7950, 90.4160 ↗

Timeline of Events

1 July 2016Militants stormed the café and took hostages.
2 July 2016A commando operation ended the siege.

27 November 2019The tribunal sentenced seven defendants to death.
2023The High Court commuted the sentences to life.

Sources

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