Dhaka – Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali on Tuesday briefed foreign diplomats on the current situation in the country at state guesthouse Padma on Tuesday morning, UNB news agency reported.
The briefing organised by the ministry of foreign affairs began at 11:05 am and lasted about an hour. Ambassadors and High Commissioners from USA, UK, Japan, Italy, India, Pakistan, Switzerland and Brazil attended the briefing.
UN Resident Coordinator in Dhaka and representatives from UN agencies were also present there.
Diplomatic security was the key issue addressed during the briefing following the Friday night’s attack, when terrorists stormed a cafe inside Gulshan diplomatic zone and took diners as hostage. Nine Italians, seven Japanese and one Indian were among those killed by them.
Islamic State claimed the responsibility of the carnage and released photos of the attackers who were killed during the commando operations.
The attack was carried out at a time when security was already intensified in the diplomatic zone after the last year’s murder of an Italian citizen not far from the cafe.
EU Ambassador Pierre Mayaudon on Sunday said the “tragedy has demonstrated that there is no such thing as full proof security.”
“The security paradigm will have to be revisited,” he had said.
The Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Paolo Gentiloni, had a telephone conversation with Japan’s Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida on Monday to coordinate the two governments’ diplomatic and intelligence activities in the aftermath of the attack in Dhaka.
According to the Italian foreign ministry, the two ministers stressed the importance of a “common commitment” among the G7 Countries –which Japan chairs this year and Italy next year – starting with the sharing of information.
Italian vice foreign minister Mario Giro reached in Dhaka on Tuesday at a special flight to take the victims back home.
He visited the Gulshan spot and also vowed to work together with Bangladesh to root out terrorism.
