Fears for the future of Bangladesh’s garment industry after deadly cafe attack

The horrific slaughter of diners at a Dhaka cafe has fanned fears that surging Islamist violence may imperil the giant garment industry in Bangladesh, which built its economy on cheaply supplying fashion to the world’s big-name brands.

Gunmen stormed the Holey Artisan Bakery in the capital’s diplomatic quarter on Friday evening, rounding up foreign hostages before murdering 20 people with explosives and machetes, in a brutal targeting of the small expat community.

Islamic State jihadists released gruesome images of corpses lying in crimson pools on the cafe floor as they claimed responsibility for the deadly 11-hour siege. Most of the victims were Italian or Japanese.

“This attack will turn away foreigners,” said Faruque Hassan, senior vice-president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, which represents 4,500 factories.

“The impact of this attack will be very damaging for the industry. We are now extremely worried,” added Hassan, whose Giant Group supplies clothes to retailers including Britain’s Marks & Spencer and Next.

Even before the cafe siege, Bangladesh, the world’s second-biggest exporter of apparel after China, was reeling from a wave of Islamist-linked killings of religious minorities, liberal activists and foreigners, including an Italian aid worker last September.