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Agence France-Presse

Under grey skies, the bodies of the seven Japanese killed in a militant attack in Bangladesh have returned to home soil.
A Japanese government plane carrying the victims’ remains and bereaved family members landed in Tokyo early Tuesday after a gruesome attack by militants on an upscale restaurant in Bangladesh’s capital left 28 dead, including many foreigners.
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Their 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.
Bangladeshi rich kids who grew up to be jihadists
“Our country will further coordinate our efforts with the international community so that a tragedy like this will not be repeated.”

The victims were Makoto Okamura, 32, Yuko Sakai, 42, and Rui Shimodaira, 27, all of whom worked for Tokyo-based construction consulting company Almec Corp.; Hideki Hashimoto, 65, Nobuhiro Kurosaki, 48, and Hiroshi Tanaka, 80, who worked for Tokyo-based consulting firm Oriental Consultants Global Co.; and Koyo Ogasawara, 56, an employee of Katahira & Engineers International.
The plane arrived roughly two hours after a small jet carrying injured Tamaoki Watanabe, a Japanese survivor of the siege, landed at Haneda.
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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.
Also in the morning, the government held a meeting of Cabinet ministers to discuss the case, at which Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Japan will not yield to terrorism and pledged to implement anti-terrorism measures in the country.
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“Our country will not give in to terrorism. We will coordinate moves with the international community to eradicate terrorism,” he said.

But with the attack still fresh in peoples’ minds the remark fell short on persuasiveness.
A Japanese source pointed out that during the Algerian hostage crisis the Japanese government failed to sufficiently share information provided by private companies and other entities.
Pacifist Japan must sharpen its diplomatic act after hostage tragedies, critics warn
This led to the formations of the National Security Council that handles crisis management and the International Counter-Terrorism Intelligence Collection Unit charged with intelligence gathering on global militant groups.
After the murder of freelance journalist Kenji Goto, who had been held hostage by Islamic State, a government inspection committee stated in a report released in May 2015 the importance of “accurately analysing and using information that has been collected.”

It further urged “the necessity to work toward improving intelligence gathering, the aggregation of information, and enhancing the powers of analysis.”
But whether lessons have been learned in the most recent attack is the big question.
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As was the case in the Algerian hostage crisis, the Japanese government dispatched a special plane to retrieve the bodies of the seven victims and one Japanese survivor of the attack.
“We’ve been reminded that we never know when or where a terrorist attack will happen,” said one high-ranking official from the Foreign Ministry.

Defence Minister Gen Nakatani said: “We have no defence attache in Bangladesh. I feel there is a need for more intelligence gathering on militants amid the sharp increase in terrorism,” suggesting the possibility of examining new measures or working together with neighbouring countries to combat terrorist threats.
Japan is limited in what it can do alone to collect and analyse intelligence on terrorism abroad, and cooperation with other countries concerned is key.
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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.
Additional reporting by Associated Press and Kyodo


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Islamic militancy

With caskets draped in white sheets, the bitter reality of terror attack arrives home in Japan

Caskets of 7 Japanese nationals killed in a terrorist attack in Dhaka are seen on the tarmac at Haneda airport in Tokyo. Photo: EPA

A government plane carrying the bodies of seven Japanese victims of the terrorist attack in the Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka arrives at Tokyo's Haneda airport on July 5, 2016. A total of 20 hostages, including nine Italians and one person each from the United States and India as well as the seven Japanese, were killed in the attack by heavily armed Islamist militants the previous week. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida lays flowers on a coffin at Tokyo's Haneda airport on July 5, 2016, after a government plane carrying the bodies of seven Japanese killed in the terrorist attack in the Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka returned home. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

(130131) -- AMENAS, Jan. 31, 2013 (Xinhua) -- Algerian troops stand guard near the Tiguentourine gas field complex in Amenas, 1600 km southeast of Algiers, Algeria, on Jan. 31, 2013. A total of 23 hostages and 32 militants were killed in an appalling hostage crisis at the gas field facility of Tiguentourine on Jan. 16. (Xinhua/Kadri Mohamed)

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (2nd L) observes a minute of silence for the victims of the July 1 Dhaka cafe attacks with Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga (L), Defense Minister Gen Nakatani (2nd R) and National Public Safety Commission Chairman Taro Kono (R) prior to the start of their cabinet meeting at Abe's official residence in Tokyo on July 5, 2016. The bodies of seven Japanese nationals killed in the bloody restaurant attack in Dhaka were returned home early on July 5 on a government plane. / AFP PHOTO / JIJI PRESS / JIJI PRESS / Japan OUT

epa04598322 A photo from video allegedly released by the Islamic State shows Japanese hostage Kenji Goto (L) moments before his execution by beheading by an English speaking terrorist on 31 January 2015. Goto is the second Japanese terrorist executed by the group in the past week. EPA/ISLAMIC STATE VIDEO ATTENTION EDITORS : EPA IS USING AN IMAGE FROM AN ALTERNATIVE SOURCE AND CANNOT PROVIDE CONFIRMATION OF CONTENT, AUTHENTICITY, PLACE, DATE AND SOURCE.

Policemen sneak a look inside the Holey Artisan Bakery and the O'Kitchen Restaurant as others inspect the site after gunmen attacked, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, July 3, 2016. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

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The Japanese government has found no easy answers to tackling the threat of terrorism after attack in Dhaka left seven of its citizens dead


With caskets draped in white sheets, the bitter reality of terror attack arrives home in Japan

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The Japanese government has found no easy answers to tackling the threat of terrorism after attack in Dhaka left seven of its citizens dead

The Japanese government has found no easy answers to tackling the threat of terrorism after attack in Dhaka left seven of its citizens dead