EmoryCollege.edu(DHAKA, Bangladesh) — Two Emory University students were among those taken hostage and killed at an upscale restaurant in the capital of Bangladesh, the school said Saturday.
Abinta Kabir, a sophomore, was visiting family and friends in Dhaka when she was murdered by militants who stormed Holey Artisan Bakery in the city’s diplomatic quarter Friday night. Kabir was from Miami, Florida, the school said.
Another Emory University student, Faraaz Hossain, was also killed in the hostage situation. He was from Dhaka.
“The Emory community mourns this tragic and senseless loss,” Emory University said in a statement.
The school said it is offering counseling services to bereaved members of its community.
Emory University president James Wagner, writing before news of Hossain’s death, said Saturday that he had been in touch with Kabir’s mother who was in “unspeakable pain” upon receiving word of her daughter’s murder.
“Please, as you are inclined, direct your kindest thoughts and sincerest prayers in her behalf and that of her family,” Wagner said in a statement Saturday.
Kabir was a student at the school’s two-year college in Oxford, Georgia, about 38 miles from its main campus in Atlanta. Hossain had just graduated from the same two-year program, and was a junior at Emory’s Goizueta Business School in Atlanta, the school said.
ISIS, the Islamic State group, has claimed the attack in which about 35 people were taken hostage, including about 20 foreigners, during a 10-hour siege of the restaurant that is popular with foreigners. The militants killed 20 of the hostages.
In a rescue operation by Bangladeshi paramilitary troops, at least six attackers were killed, one was arrested and 13 hostages were rescued.
Bangladeshi Brig. Gen. Nayeem Ashfaq Chowdhury said troops recovered explosive devices and sharp weapons from the scene.
U.S. citizens in the city were warned by the State Department to “remain vigilant” following the attack.
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