dhaka, on the line with us with the best details we've had some far, still unconfirmed details. we pass them on with some care. what he is telling us he has heard from a police officer is that five of the eight gunmen believed to have been involved in the siege of the holey artisan bakery cafe that five of them are dead, one of them has been captured and two are unaccounted for. the best word he was able to give us was from someone he identified as a relative of one of the hostages who said some of the hostages had been killed. once again, this is an irregular kind of reporting, we're not accustomed to it and we're turning to it out of a level of desperation because bangladeshi authorities have imposed somewhat of a news blackout and releasing very few details and very little video. these are pictures of saturday morning in dhaka, not far from

the site of a siege, some 20 people believed to have been held by six to eight gunmen. the word we have is that the encounter with the gunmen is over, most of them are dead, two are unaccounted for, one has been taken prisoner alive. that unconfirmed word from the police officer at the scene from our contact, fayad munaim. this siege, which dragged on for 12 hours, began friday night in an affluent area of dhaka, crowded with hotels and residences. that siege began when gunmen burst into the restaurant, firing their weapons and at least two police officers were said to have been killed, some 40 people wounded and then a long, slow, very quiet night, as authorities waited outside the building and the gunmen were busy with we do not know what

inside. attempts by authorities were made to contact the gunman. it's not clear that they ever succeeded. what we did learn is that the gunman never made any demands. while we were waiting to find out who they were and what they wanted, a news agency reported isis claimed responsibility for the attack. u.s. officials said it was more likely the work of al qaeda, who has a branch there and it was isis who carried out responsibility in a week of attacks when suicide bombers carried out attacks in lebanon, in turkey, in istanbul and this latest attack is claimed by isis, an attack that may now be over with an assault on the restaurant by the rapid action battalion, an elite force of the

bangladeshi forces. an intense gunfight, their numbers were put at approximately 100 commandos fighting against the six or eight gunmen who held the 20 captives. the gunfire was intense, lasted about ten minutes, it is over now. andrew, i've tried to summarize the situation as best i can. where do things stand? >> we are still really operating in somewhat of a vacuum here, jonathan, as far as official information goes, listening to the eyewitness a few minutes ago. as you point out, that's the best information we're getting so far. none of this can be confirmed. he got his information from a policeman on the ground. there is obviously a very, very heavy presence of security forces around that bakery. the actual -- the storming of

the restaurant happened from what i can sort of deduct a little over an hour ago and we've had probably now a good 30 minutes or so of silence since then, as the eyewitness points out, there hasn't been what you expect to hear sirens going to and from the scene. there were six to eight hostages, we understand. they stormed into the restaurant at about 8:30, 9:00 on friday night, and then followed soon after by a firefight in which two police were killed and some 40 other people were injured. we understand they were using fair lly sophisticated weaponry. one has described the explosive devices as crude. others said they were using grenades as well. but this does look look it was a well planned attack, which is in stark contrast to the more crude

attacks we've seen on critics or on people that islamists understand or see as enemies of islam, which have been sort of tipified by hacking attacks on individuals. this is a completely different set of circumstances. so it has been quiet at that restaurant now for perhaps half an hour. we've heard various experts say in the last hours that these sort of attacks, the attackers usually have no plans on emerging live from situations like this. we stand that the bangladeshi government did try to negotiate with the attackers. but we've also been told that the attackers had not made any attempt to negotiate on that so that is when the decision was taken to move in in overwhelming number, by the sounds of it. a hundred commandos moving in. there was heavy gunfire

reported. both it was said by the actual rapid reaction force spokesman and witnesses on the ground near the restaurant. that lasted for perhaps 15 minutes or so and then it has been quiet since. we're still waiting for an official update. we haven't had anything official from the government on what's being done. we are making best informed judgments on the situation there at the moment and getting information from people on the ground. it's very difficult. it's all compounded by the fact that there has been a media blackout, which has been observed by the media to help the security forces in dealing with that situation, jonathan, not to give the attackers any sort of information which they could use while they were conducting that siege. so that's the situation at the moment. we have been told that one person, one injured person has been taken out of that restaurant, taken to an ambulance. just to repeat what the

eyewitness told you just a few moments ago that he's being told -- this is unconfirmed and we can't underline that enough that, five gunmen are dead, one has been captured and two unaccounted for. that would be eight gunmen. they had been described as being young men who when they burst into that restaurant were shouting "allah akbar," god is great, and proceeded to engage in gunfire with forces. there have been suggestions that some of the hostages may have been saved but we can't say that with any clarity at all. so really just waiting now on getting some sort of official confirmation on what has happened there. but as you say, it does appear now that that siege is over. we can't say for sure, jonathan, but certainly as the silence

continues for longer and longer, it does suggest that whatever has happened has now been finished and we now wait to see what -- how many victims, how many people survived. >> andrew, i'm giving you a chance to collect what information you can. we're going to turn to leone lakhani. do you have any new details? >> i've been getting messages from friends and, again, we can't confirm these messages. but people who had friends inside who said that their friends are now saying that a few people have been released and are in a hospital. but, again, we can't confirm that at the moment. this is messages that -- i'm getting messages through friends and family at the moment. i've also got a couple of messages from people who said they were there earlier, they're not there now, they're at home so just a lot of worry and a lot of concern for the people that

are there at the moment. but according to one of our -- my family members, who say that they had friends there, a couple of them have been released apparently according to her. but we can't individually confirm that at the moment, jonathan. this has been, of course, more than 12 hours since it initially began, the initial gunshot were heard, and then we had this whole night of hours and hours of silence and then we've had, you know, gunfire again and then an eerie silence again according to people on the ground, jonathan. >> once again, want to be as cautious ambassador i can because this is such an unconventional way for us to be reporting and broadcasting on breaking news and i will apologize to our audience. i hope can you bear with us and understand that we're trying as best we can to understand exactly what's going on. but leone, you're telling us

there are at least some survivors according to what you're hearing? >> according to what i'm hearing. we're hearing from people who say they've got friends in feel fear there's a lot of hearsay so we can't independently confirm it. we're trying to reach out to someone who might have witnessed people leaving from the cafe. but according to a family member on the ground who says that she had her family members' friends -- friend's friends basically who were inside the cafe who are now out and in a hospital. but again, this is purely hearsay in a sense and come being secondhand information. we're trying to confirm it and we're trying to get comment from the people who say they've witnessed people leaving. but of course we'll get that to you as soon as we can, john that be. >> i it's not the middle of the night anymore, and this is an

attack that has galvanized the attention of all of bangladesh and i think people around the world. but the government of bangladesh has the a very brief -- would you have expected more from dhaka? >> well, on the one hand we wouldn't expect, you know, any comments about the operation while it was being conducted because that could in terms of a government response, there may be one coming. generally the government is not -- when there's an international spotlight on the country, they're a bit more guarded about what they say because they don't want to send out the wrong message to the international world. so they may be guarded in terms of what they say. it is a little bit surprising, perhaps, that we haven't, you know, heard from the government in terms of, you know, stay calm, you know, any kind of

words that are not related to the operation. i'm not really necessarily surprised and also, jonathan, this is a really unprecedented attack. they' they've they're trying to figure out how to deal with it. it's probably also why we haven't heard anything from them yet. >> leone lakhani, thank you. >> a silence has fallen over the area of darkia -- dhaka moving ahe ahead. an attack that has been claimed

by isis on the last friday in ramadan, capping a series of isis attacks it finally culminated by what was described as an intense gun fire, and that was heard from residents who live nearby, as was the original attack. but they say the gun fight, the play, the firing. >> there are still security forces in the street but there's no burst of traffic, no emergency announce bentz. one person was said to have been taken injured tw the scene but the fate of the other hostages is still unclear. >> it was heard in an uncertain way but heard at least some of

the hostages had survived. the best indication we had from one of the witness es five of them were dead, one was captured and two, well, their fate is unknown. steve has been following along with us from hong kong bangladesh is a suspense. it's just all gone guy et. >> there is very, very information, it does seem to be coming out through eyewitnesses. the last real stort of.

>> they there were over 100 commandos involved in the storming of that restaurant. we do know thats. the. a lot of security experts, particularly in the u.s. are saying that isis, there a lot of questions over whether isis actually has a genuine presence, an operational presence actually in bangladesh seems like a better equipped presents. we've seen several attacks in the recent weeks in several countries across the middle east and of course most recently in turkey. this does follow a call by isis

for its follow so there was a clear call from isis for its fighters to attack a prn that would be a target, certainly a soft target. >> if you think about the time, it was 9:00 in the mng when the gunman stormed that restaurant. young men shouting "ala ep who were inside at the time. >> the u.s. state department has said that all its official staff in dhaka have been accounted for

but we do know there were expatriot people inside that restaurant. after the gunman stormed the building between six and eight gunmen we're told, they then engaged in a firefight with the police, two police understand to have died and 40 people were injured in that firefight. they did have sophisticated weaponry and also explosion of devices we're being told. >> it's been an accurate assessment, it certainly looks to all and. >> if you have it yet, forgive me for interrupting. but we are learning from the deputy examinationer, that the respiration according to this new dispatch is still online going and he says they have rescued some people.

he did not give any number. so once again, the deputy commissioner of dhaka metropolitan police said the operation was still on going. it would seem to contradict the evidence of the near residents who said it's gone terribly quiet. the good news is that ongoing or not, they have rest crude. >> i'm not surprised the situation is going on, even though we don't hear anything right now. in a hostage rescue operation or even in a standard s.w.a.t.

operation, the initial assault, the area where you take control of the area and bad guys is done quickly. hopefully not in a few seconds. then you have to go inch by inch, through that restaurant, through whatever structure it is, and make sure that you have searched every single hiding place, looked for every nook and crane e cranny to see if there's fishing wire attached to a grenade or something. you have to clear that building. that's going to take a long time. you have to look in the attics, crawl spaces, refrigerators, anywhere where a man could hide. or importantly where a hostage could have taken refuge. >> well, once again, more details. bangladeshi television is now reporting that 10 to 12 skinjur hostages were taken out of the restaurant and taken to a local

military hospital. people did come out alive. we're also being told from a witness at the scene who spoke with a police officer who said that the hostage takers, five of them have been killed, one was taken captain, two were unaccounted for. that would seemingly suggest they've gotten most of the men they were looking for one way or another but not all. not a complete success when it comes to the hostages, we can't report that yet. not a complete success when it comes to making sure the gunman will no longer be a threat. >> no. but again, the number of hostage takers was just an educated guess at the time. it's possible that there were only six and they're searching for two because everybody said there were eight but there weren't. but that's what this long, quiet search is. they're going room to room and they're taking it very carefully. this contrary to what i said earlier about the overall

operation, this is when you slow it down. this is when you methodically go through and take no chances with these people. so they may have all of the hostage takers, we don't know. and the fact that ten hostages were apparently alive at the end of this is fabulous news. it's -- it indicates a level of success. it indicates they were able to get to the hostage takers before they were able to kill the hostages. i have to say i'm very pleasantly surprised at that. >> steve moore, thanks have etch. if you're just joining us, details are sketchy and a bit of a surprise after hearing for some time that the sound of gunfire had abated and the

operation seemed at least to nearby residents to have come to an end, word from authorities in dhaka that it is not over and word from local television that 10 to 12 hostages have been taken to hospital and they are free and survive.

>> this is not really a group that wants anyone to survive so that in and of itself is good news. >> does this diminish your expectation that this was isis, or isis trained fighter as opposed to isis followers? >> no, it didn't. isis has its own quasi official news agency. it's one that tries to appear more objective but is clearly a part of the organization's media strategy. they actually claimed the attack for isis while the attack was still in progress, which is not something i've seen isis or the news agency do previously. secondly, it fits isis's m.o. al qaeda is far stronger in bangladesh. but this fits isis's m.o.

i think isis has enough of a presence to execute an attack like this. and al qaeda has had a slower -- this attack was a declaration of war, which al qaeda seems to have avoided in bangladesh today. >> how troubled would you be by the fact that two of the gunmen based on the very, very preliminary word we've heard from one police officer, two of the gunmen are unaccounted for? would that be why the incident is not over? >> right. as your previous guest mentioned, six, eight is a guess. . what we've heard are numbers ranging from six to eight. they'll consider the operation

to be ongoing as they methodically comb through to make sure they're not leaving one of the gunmen behind. but beyond that, the fact that there's at least six and quite possibly more involved in this situation gives rise to another concern, which is that when we've seen massive attacks like this in the past, it hasn't all been attackers. there are many who find logistical support or they are backing up the attackers, who prove to be an important part of the plot. the reason i mention that is because even if all the gunmen end up being killed or captured, there probably is a net work behind them that helped them to get to the point where they were ready to launch this attack. and the bangladeshi authorities need to be looking very carefully. you've had lots of killings in bangladesh. most of them have been against single targets, but the forces of jihadism are very strong there and the way this attack was executed strongly suggests that it's not just the attackers

who are concerned but that there is a broader net work that was involved in helping them to execute this. >> daveed gartenstein-ross, thank you for talking with us. >> thank you. >> after an intense gunfight, an operation is said to still be ongoing. perhaps there are questions about who else may still be in that building. but the gunfight is over, the gunmen may have been accounted for and there are at first report, yet to be confirmed, there are reportedly survivors. let's go to cnn's andrew stevens. andrew, what are you learning? >> jonathan, we're not getting a great deal more information than what you've been reporting just

then. we're still waiting for any official line from the government on actual numbers. i mean, the news that there are -- that there could be 10 to 12 hostages taken out of that restaurant and this is coming to us from local television, reporting that 10 to 12 hostages have come out and have been taken to hospital is extraordinarily good news. again, this is still be sourced through a local television. we haven't been able to confirm that independently and there haven't been others reporting that same line, although an eyewitness has told us that according to police on the ground where he was, which was near the restaurant where the attack took place, police on the ground were telling him that there were hostages who had been taken out of the restaurant alive and it also said that there may still be two unaccounted for gunmen, which

may explain why this siege is very much on going. the authorities have not declared the siege over as they picked their way through the restaurant looking for other gunmen or looking for perhaps booby-traps or indeed other who is to-- hostages who may have bn in hiding there. it may are been of situation of waiting to see how things develop. the information has been very slow to trickle through. all understandable while the siege was happening, but now that it looks like it's drawing to an end, we can expect to get some more concrete information hopefully in the coming hour or so, jonathan. >> andrew stevens, thanks very much. we'll be checking in with you again soon. but the bottom line is said to be over. the operation by security forces

is still ongoing. we'll be back with more news right after this. (man) what i love most about tempur-pedic mattresses is that they contour to your body. it keeps us comfortable and asleep at night. can i take a nap now? (vo) change your sleep, change your life, change to tempur-pedic.

wannwith sodastream®er? you turn plain water into sparkling water in seconds. and because it's so delicious, you'll drink 43% more water every day. sodastream®. love your water. welcome back. bangladeshi security forces have stormed a cafe where gunmen held at least 20 people hostages. while some have been rescued, the operation is still ongoing. witnesses spoke to police and told cnn five of gunmen are dead, one captured, two unaccounted for. none of this is confirmed. it follows news that the commandos stormed the holey artisan bakery.

witnesses say they heard heavy gunfire at the scene but now there is an eerie, unexplained silence. as many as eight gunmen seized the dhaka restaurant friday, those that number is unconfirmed. the restaurant is near many embassies, is popular with ex-patriots. the gunmen released fire, killing at least two officers. isis has claimed responsibility through its media arm and al qaeda is also a possible culprit as it has a history in

bangladesh. is this over? is it not over? are the people safe? what's the best end case you have? >> we have two both unconfirmed sources that were were hostages that survived, jonathan. this is the really good news part of this. we've had an eyewitness who told cnn that he's being told by police on the ground that there are survivors and local television has said between 10 and 12 hostages have been taken out of that restaurant and taken to hospital. so not confirmed. now two sources are saying virtually the same thing. as we can see by the pictures we're watching here, there has been a very, very hard cordon around that restaurant so very difficult to get eyes on what was happening at the as far as the storming of the restaurant by the security forces is concerned and what happened in the immediate aftermath. we do see ambulances there and there have been reports that

people have been taken to ambulances. so this is a very, very positive development, seeing that isis, who claimed this attack as their own, and under their sort of m.o., the hostage takers were not looking to come out of this situation alive and looking more to take as many people with them as they could before they were overwhelmed. now, we don't know for sure whether this was an isis attack or just an opportunist sort of attack, which isis used to claim as their own. we don't know that at this stage. but certainly good news, it does look at this stage like there have been at least some survivors there. we think there may have been 20 hostages inside -- or 20 diners inside that restaurant when the attackers stormed in. it was just a little over 12 hours ago now that the restaurant, the diners were there, it was 8:30 -- between

8:30 and 9 p.m. on a friday evening, they were enjoying dinner when what we think is between six and eight attackers stormed into the restaurant, a very popular restaurant, it's a bakery by day, it's a restaurant by night. it's got a european feel about it, it's in a very leafy, a very well healed part of dhaka, it's popular with the diplomatic community, as well as young bangladeshis as well. now 12 hours later, it looks like we are moving close to getting a sign that this siege is now over. there hasn't been gun fire reported for probably 20 minutes or longer. there are, as we're hearing, step by step surveillance, going through room to room, floor to floor, to make sure everybody is out and everybody has been accounted for.

>> i want to be as transparent as we can be and just draw everyone's attention to really two crucial details, both involving how we do the math, which is what happened to the gunmen and, more importantly, what happened to the hostages? in both cases we have been working with estimates. they're both drawn, i believe, from the owner of the cafe, who was able to escape in the first minutes of the siege who said he believed there were six or eight gunmen. those numbers are crucial because, correct me if i'm wrong, the indication we have unconfirmed from one police officer is that five of the gunmen are dead and one has been taken captive, two may be unaccounted for. but if there were only six, those two disappear, they were never there. so it could be all of the gunmen are accounted for and none escap escaped. and it was an estimate that

there were 20 diners. there could have been fewer or there could have been more. >> there were reports that there may have been 30 people inside that restaurant at the time. and the eight to ten hostages that came from -- it wasn't the owner, as it turned out. it was one of the employees who got out by jumping on the roof and getting clear of that restaurant. he said he saw he thought between six and saturdeight. there are reports of nine, reports of six. there could have been more hostages than the 20 we've been quoting. we just don't know at this stage. it is certainly somewhat of a case of deduction of the numbers but we have to keep on giving and pointing out the fact that none of this is confirmed yet, jonathan. we are working on the

information we know best. we are getting information from police on the ground via eyewitnesses. the eyewitnesses speaking to police on the ground who are then speaking to us. and it has been very difficult to get the information. understandably the authorities were not giving out anything during the actual siege itself, didn't want to give any tipoff to the hostage takers inside that restaurant, but as yet we're still waiting for confirmation that obviously we're working the phones in the hospitals of the near error. we're working all the angles but as of yet we're not getting any confirmation. >> we're going to let you go back to work and we're going to bring in officer gohel now joining us from tokyo. what do you make of information we have? >> well, jonathan, we will get possibly more input from

different sources and at times it will be contradictory as well. this is often the case when you have a siege operation, numbers are sometimes speculative as to what gunmen there were, what fatalities, how many potential survivors there are. unfortunately with the way bangladeshi authorities are perhaps conducting this, that we may not get a proper fix for some times. they don't necessarily want to give the terrorists exposure, media attention naturally. at the same time, it is important to get a full grip as to what's taking police. this is probably the biggest terror attack bangladesh has experienced. the worry is this may be a series of plots designed to hit the country in. >> over the last few days there have been a slew of suicide

bombings a -- they were in yemen, they were in lebanon, they were in jordan and they were, of course, in istanbul. whether or not this one is over, is there any asurgence that this wave of attacks is over? >> if we look at isis in particular, that period had been given to us as a warning for terrorism. it was warned in advance of ramadan that he wanted his followers around the world to carry out attacks during the holy months. and all the different terrible plots that took place in the middle east, also in orlando, the shootings at the night club and then a french policeman and his partner killed in france. all of these attacks independent, not necessarily directed connect to each other but heeding the call.

we know isis has used its facilities in bangladesh to carry out attacks in the past, but we also know that al qaeda in the indian subcontinent is present in bang la derk, too. >> can i step back and ask you a very basic question, when i frankly i wonder about an awful lot, which is why? who gains when an islamic extremist group kills people, most of them muslims, during the muslim holy month of ramadan? >> why do they think of this as an endeavor worth human lives? why would they consider this in some vens a victory trp. >> it's important question that you ask, whether it's cr-- they

embrace death as much as you and the viewers on cnn cher, live. everyone is a potential target. the notoriety they get their oxygen of type police de. unfortunately there are people that take inspiration from the misogyny and from the violence that these groups inflict. sergeant gohel, thank you so much for being with us through this. what are you be learning? >> we're just getting new information now, jonathan. this is pro the japan says

they're being told that 12 hostages have been rescued from that restaurant. there are two foreigners among those 12. they don't know what nationality the foreigners are but earlier there have been reports there may have been japanese inside the restaurant. but the japanese deputy chief cabinet secretary is now confirming what the earlier television reports we had been hearing from bangladesh, that between 10 and 12 hostages been rescued. the japanese are saying they're being told that bangladesh authorities, that 12 hostages, including two foreigners, have been rescued. we don't know how many hostages were actually in the restaurant when the attackers struck. but at the moment, extraordinarily good news. i would say and i don't know how

many have been taken to hospital. we don't know the condition they're in at this stage, jonathan, but we'll keep working it. >> now there was an unconfirmed report, perhaps it was the hostage who was first released or announced to have been taken by the scene, was japanese. is there any word from the distach that you're seeing about whether of those hostages are japanese? >> i saw that report as well and we have stayed away until we could get some sort of clarification on it. nothing confirms that in our conversation for the japanese. in fact, they do say there were two foreigners, but they do not know at this stage what the nationalities were of those foreigners. but there had been reports at that there may have been several japanese in the restaurant at the time. these are all unconfirmed. we're being very, very cautious about what we talk about on this

story but also coming sort of unnamed sources in bangladesh, talking about various things, we are trying to nail down as much as we can the facts. this is coming from the def -- we don't know what nationality those two foreigners were. >> evidence of just how circuit use the evidence has been. we're learning about situation in dhaka from authorities in tokyo. we're grateful, andrew. we'll be back with you in a moment. leonis materially appears to use the worz fs 1, for people who

knew people who have beenin side but we couldn't confirm it ouf sefs so that's really good news come in a sense there's been wandering going on. there was a lot of concern, you knee, that the initial gun showeds were just about ofd and then suddenly we heard a lot of gun fire. so this is actually quite good news, jonathan. i'm getting similar reports of people butch i'm not sure if it's just hear say or if and

it's morning now and where it is apparently kwai quiet after all of gun fire -- firefight that was described at the scene of the hostage taking. we didn't hear about any sirens, we didn't hear about any ambulances, but key did a moment ago see video i don't know if that's the same shot or a different shot. once again, that's a quell come site at a scene of an attack like this. are you hearing anything more about what's going on in dhaka? is everyone staying inside? are people starting to move around? >> it wouldn't be a surprised to see quiet streets in.

he said, well, people tend to be a little bit more crazy. he doesn't like to see quiet streets on a regular saturday. on top of that, people have been asked to stay off the streets. i'm but most the roads are blocked off so i at this and we expecting the fact they should -- >> it's going to make the. >> i completely love they've never seen anything like this so this will definitely change the mood on the ground. >> there there be anybody in bangladesh who is heartened by this? al qaeda and isis are in a

competition do-to-draw the impegs of the world. -- way among the people of bangladesh? >> that's hard to say. whether they would benefit, you know, largely the country is quite secular. we've been talking about this. it's one of the biggest mus lip countries in the world, 166 people, but they've been regularly setbacks. you've seen those attacks, unless there's been a sense from what we've been hearing from security experts that they might try to take advantage of that in bangladesh because it's such a huge muslim community but it's a bill early to tell. we still don't know who these people are but we do know that

obviously there is some kind of, you know, very -- a big problem on the ground that has to be dealt with now by the government. >> thanks very much.moment. there hl been a lull after the rabid response team which continued for 10 to 15 minutes and a long period of nothing. no gunfire heard at all. atm, a local television station in bangladesh has reported that another explosion at the restaurant has been heard just in the last few minutes, jonathan. we don't know any more details. it could be that security forces

are sort of setting off booby trap. there could be an ordinance on the ground too dangerous to move. we don't know at this stage. we can tell you this is very much an ongoing situation. there is, dozens of commandos were involved. both police and military commandos involved in the storming of the restaurant well over an hour ago now and that situation obviously is still live at the moment. there are hostages taken out. we can confirm that, as you said, sort of almost hesitantly, miraculously, it does seem to be extraordinary. 12 hostages after a siege that lasted perhaps 11, 12 hours, 12 hostages were taken out alive. that is being confirmed by the japanese deputy chief cabinet secretary who has been talking to the bangladeshi authorities. since the news of the hostages are coming out, now this news of

another or of a big explosion, in fact, it just says explosion. i injected the word big there but an explosion within the restaurant itself. can't tell you what is behind it, why it happened, we'll continue to work on that angle as well, jonathan. >> once again, if the very, very preliminary reports that are reaching us are accurate, there would be no one left for the authorities to be fighting against. it would seem that most, if not all of the gun men have been accounted for, though there may still be hold outs. the numbers we saw were unclear. >> yes, we heard from an eyewitness who had been -- who had been speaking to police on the ground there that five, five hostage takers had been killed in the initial storming of the restaurant. two were unaccounted for and one was, and one had been taken.

now, that is eight hostages or eight hostage takers, at this stage we're just not sure of the numbers. we can't say with any degree of certainty whether that explosion relates to see a hold out by one of the hostage takers inside of the restaurant or whether it was a clearing operation. we just can't say at this stage. >> we're in fact hearing very little from authorities and we should share with those of you who are watching our uncertainty about much of this because there has been very, very little comment from elected -- no comment that i know of from elected officials, very minimal comment from some of the military and security figures who are carrying out this raid so andrew and i are at a bit of a disadvantage making sure what we're telling you is accurate. we're hearing from journalists at the scene. nonjournalists at the scene and settling details on the base of those fragments and the detail. we've been asked by bangladeshi

authorities not to broadcast any live video or images that would be helpful to the hostage takers. the video is very incomplete and it is delayed in some sense. we're not sharing with you the images captured in real time. so andrew, as we follow this, what we know is this 12 hour ordeal is not entirely over, though it would appear the worst has been averted and there may, we can hope cautiously, there may be good news for at least some families. >> and if you consider the standard operating procedure of isis inspired militants extremists like this is to literally take no prisoners, and is to also die in the act of perpetrati perpetrating that crime. so if indeed this was isis backed and at this stage we

can't say that. certainly they've claimed responsibility, jonathan but there is a lot of suspicion. there is a lot of disbelief that this was in fact isis, which isn't nearly as well established in bangladesh as al qaeda. it is actually officially called al qaeda in india in the sub continent. it is seen as the most organized of the two competing, if you like, extremist movements there. so if, assuming this was isis, it doesn't fit the isis playbook where you have several hostages, 12 hostages which is now confirmed which is really extraordinary given that this was such a long siege and there was subtle information coming out and it was obviously no real attempt on the side of of the hostage takers to reach out, to negotiate with security forces. >> andrew stevens, let's go back to leone lakhani.

what are you hearing? >> confirming with what andrew said a few minutes ago about reports of an explosion. someone who has been messaging me through the night telling me he heard the explosion as well about ten minutes ago and he says that local television, it was reporting that bomb disposal are getting rid of bombs but again, that is from local tv but he does -- he did confirm that he heard an explosion as andrew reported a few minutes ago as well, jonathan. >> so if it was a controlled explosion which is what you seem to be suggesting as a possibility. that would be in keeping with what we've been a acceptable blaeling. that the gun men have been neutralized if they haven't been accounted for. the gun men are no longer a threat to the hostages. several of of the hostages have reportedly been rescued. the number may run from ten to 12. the others are not accounted for. the authorities are looking through that building.

again, no one you're hearing from leone is talking about any official word, are they? the prime minister is not speaking? nobody is speaking? >> not yet. you know, i presume that they will make some sort of a comment once they have all of the -- once the site is clear and they have all of the facts and figures. we still don't know so many things like who were these people? how many people were involved? how many hostages were there? there are many, many details that still need to be cleared and i presume that they will make a statement once the information is out. but you know, this is you know, after a night where we had hours and hours of silence. we had the gunshots at night. gunfire in the morning. it just seemed like, you know, we weren't expecting very much good news and fearing the worst so this is all sounding much better than, than we had expected, jonathan. i've got messages coming through that say there are few police

stationed nearby but it feels like it is over. this, again, is from a witness on the ground who is just seeing what he sees and letting me know what he sees. he did confirm he heard an explosion and that local tv think -- local tv says the bomb disposal squad are just clearing up the area. it does tend to point to the fact that it might be reaching an end, jonathan. >> leone lakhani in wisconsin. > -- in washington. >> we hope that a deadly night in dhaka, bangladesh is over. it began with an assault on a restaurant where people were celebrating the end of the day's ramadan fast. that assault, which took the lives of two police officers almost immediately and wounded more than 40 people dragged on through the night until the morning saturday where police and security forces moved in, commandos staging an assault that involved what they

described as intense gunfire, an assault that has led to the rescue of reportedly ten to 12 of the hostages, the deaths of most of the gun men, and an end to the siege. the operation is ongoing but the threat to the hostages, to the people of dhaka, the episode may be over. our coverage will continue right after this. calling all go-getters. all providers. all self-motivated self-starters. drive with uber and put a dollar sign in front of your odometer. like this guy. technically i'm a cook. sign up here. drive a few hours a day. make $300 a week. actually it's a little bit more than that. that's extra buy-you-stuff money. or buy-them-stuff money. calling all early risers, nine-to-fivers and night owls. with uber-a little drive goes a long way. start earning this week. go to uber.com/drivenow

and you're talking to your doctor about your medication... this is humira. this is humira helping to relieve my pain and protect my joints from further damage. this is humira helping me go further. humira works for many adults. it targets and helps to block a specific source of inflammation that contributes to ra symptoms. doctors have been prescribing humira for over 13 years. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened, as have blood, liver and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. before treatment, get tested for tb. tell your doctor if you've been to areas where certain fungal infections are common, and if you've had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flu-like symptoms or sores. don't start humira if you have an infection. ready for a new chapter? talk to your rheumatologist. this is humira at work. ♪ ♪ rock-a-bye michael, rushing to class. ♪