Hostage-takers on July 1 killed 20, including seven Japanese nationals, all of whom were engaged in development projects in Bangladesh with the government-run Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). / AFP PHOTO /
TOKO, Japan (AFP) — The bodies of seven Japanese nationals killed in a bloody restaurant attack in Dhaka were returned home early Tuesday on a government plane.
The aircraft landed shortly before 6:00 am (2100 GMT Monday) carrying the victims’ remains and bereaved family members, who had been earlier taken to the upmarket cafe in the Bangladeshi capital where militants killed 20 hostages at the weekend.
The coffins, draped in white sheets, were lowered to the tarmac at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport, where Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida along with other government officials and colleagues of the victims awaited.
Kishida joined others to offer floral tributes and bowed deeply as they held a moment of silence before the coffins.
“As I received them at the airport, I felt a renewed sense of deep sorrow and anger,” Kishida later told reporters in Tokyo.
“Our country will further coordinate our efforts with the international community so that a tragedy like this will not be repeated,” he said.
The plane arrived roughly two hours after a small jet carrying injured Tamaoki Watanabe, a Japanese survivor of the siege, landed at Haneda, local television footage showed.
He was carried on a stretcher and rushed to hospital for further treatment. He was in a stable condition, according to local media.
The Japanese nationals had been engaged in development projects in Bangladesh with the government-run Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
Japanese officials who returned from Dhaka along with the bereaved families briefed cabinet ministers on the situation.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held telephone talks Monday night with his Italian counterpart Matteo Renzi to discuss global cooperation to fight terrorism, the Japanese foreign ministry said.
The Dhaka attack also killed nine Italians as well as a US citizen and a 19-year-old Indian student.
The two leaders agreed that they will use an upcoming round of the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) in Mongolia to issue a clear message against terrorism, the ministry said in a brief statement.
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