DHAKA: Eight alleged Islamist extremists went on trial in Bangladesh yesterday over a savage 2016 attack claimed by Islamic State that killed 22 people including 18 foreigners at a Dhaka cafe popular with Westerners. Prosecutors say that the eight members of a homegrown extremist outfit were “associates” of the five attackers killed when police stormed the Holey Artisan Bakery cafe. The eight, who face the death penalty if convicted, “helped mastermind the attack and supplied arms and ammunition,” prosecutor Jahangir Alam Chowdhury said.

Six defendants were present with two having absconded. More than 200 witnesses have been called in a special anti-terrorism court in the old part of the capital Dhaka under tight security. The brazen assault in July 2016 saw young men armed with assault rifles and machetes lay siege to the cafe in Dhaka’s well-heeled Gulshan neighborhood. —AFP