Dhaka attack victim fought back; wounds suggested a struggle

BANGKOK – When Faraaz Hossain’s family received his body after the deadly siege at the Holey Artisan Bakery in Dhaka, Bangladesh, they noticed the palm of his right hand had been sliced clean through.

The wound suggested the 20-year-old Faraaz, the family’s beloved youngest child, had grabbed the attacker’s sword and tried to fight back.

“There were a lot of visible signs on his body that he fought hard,” Zaraif Hossain, Faraaz’s brother, told The Associated Press.

Faraaz, a student at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, was visiting family back home in Bangladesh when he was caught up in the 10-hour hostage crisis on the evening of July 1.

By the time the attack was over, Faraaz was among 20 hostages and two police officers who had been slaughtered. Six attackers also were killed, according to authorities.

Faraaz was home to visit family before leaving for an Eid holiday to mark the end of Ramadan, his brother said. A recent photo shows the two brothers and their mother in the middle looking relaxed during a family trip to Moscow.

When his family learned about the hostage-taking, they called Faraaz repeatedly, but he didn’t pick up the phone. Zaraif also sent Facebook messages, which were marked as “seen” until about 12:30 or 1 a.m.

But then Faraaz either stopped receiving or seeing the messages.

Zaraif believes that must have been around when his brother was killed.

“He was our baby,” Zaraif said, remembering a boy who was so gentle as a child that he didn’t want to wrestle with him.

“I couldn’t even play fight with my brother because he was so fragile,” Zaraif said. “But I guess he was far from fragile and the strongest of us all.”