US issues travel alert to Bangladesh after restaurant attack

WASHINGTON – The State Department is warning Americans against travel to Bangladesh.

It calls the threat of terrorism there “real and credible.”

The travel warning comes after last week’s attack in the capital of Dhaka’s diplomatic enclave. Twenty hostages in a restaurant popular with foreigners were killed, including one American. Two police and six attackers died.

It was the latest act of violence in the south Asian country. Militants have targeted atheists, religious minorities and others they consider to be “enemies of Islam.”

While the Islamic State group and al-Qaida have taken credit for attacks in the last year, the State Department doesn’t say if it believes the groups to be responsible.

Thursday’s alert instructs Americans in Bangladesh to take “stringent security measures.”