Official! Malaysian varsity student was Dhaka café gunman, parents apologise for attack

A still image taken from video of the SITE Intel Group's Twitter page shows an undated photo of Nibras Islam with a gun. — Reuters pixKUALA LUMPUR, July 6 — After days of speculation, the parents of Nibras Islam confirmed he was one of the five gunmen who laid siege to a Dhaka café last week that ended with 22 deaths.

Bangladeshi newspaper The Daily Star reported today the parents of Nibras apologising publicly for the July 1 attack, said to be one of the deadliest in Dhaka.

“We’re ashamed of knowing of our son’s involvement in Gulshan’s Holey Artisan restaurant terror attack. We apologise to the entire nation, the people of the country and the international community,”

“Those who lost their relatives in the attack, we apologise to them as parents of Nibras,” Nibras’ father, M Nazrul Islam, was quoted by the English-language paper as saying in a statement.

Malaysia’s Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar confirmed yesterday that two people involved in the Dhaka attack previously studied at Monash University here, but said police were unable to verify if the duo were the attackers or victims.

Nibras’ parents only knew of their son’s death in the café terror attack a day later on July 2, the Bangladeshi paper reported.

“Our son was very honest, humble and quiet in nature. You’ll get the similar answer if you talk to his any friend in Uttara,” Nazrul was reported saying in the statement.

The father said Nibras continued his higher education at the Malaysian campus of Monash University from the North South University and returned home to Bangladesh last October but disappeared on February 3 this year.

“We tried our best in the last five months to get back our son and appealed through his Facebook to come back. But all efforts went in vain,” he was quoted saying.

Nazrul also demanded stiff penalties on those who had supplied his son with firearms used in the attack.

People pay tribute to the victims of the attack on the Holey Artisan Bakery and the O’Kitchen Restaurant, in Dhaka Bangladesh, July 4, 2016.Another parent to one of the five assailants also issued a public apology for his son’s role in the terror.

“It’s a shame for me. I was surprised to see my son among the attackers,” Imtiaz Khan Babul, a member of Bangladesh’s ruling Awami League party and father to Rohan Imtiaz, was quoted telling reporters in Dhaka.

“Once I was involved in the profession of teaching. My students today run the country but I failed to have my son on the right path. I’m a failed father,” he added.

The newspaper reported Rohan went missing on December 30 last year, but the family only filed a police report on January 4.

The father said his son was like many others from well to do families that have been disappearing and urged all parents to pay more attention to their children to avoid a similar fate.

The politician echoed Nibras’ father and called on the authorities to trace the firearms, funds and training that enabled their children to carry out the attack.

Apart from Nibras and Rohan, Bangladeshi police have identified the remaining three gunmen as Meer Saameh Mubasheer, Khairul Islam and Shafiqul Islam.

Bangladeshi police have admitted that they mistook one of the hostages, a pizza chef at the Holey Artisan Bakery now named as Saiful Islam Chowkidar, for one of the attackers when their troops stormed the café.

According to its report, Bangladeshi police have since cleared Saiful of any involvement with the gunmen but did not confirm earlier reports that police may have mistakenly shot the chef. 

- malaymail