Dhaka: Bangladesh has sought to reassure the international community despite admitting that in some ways things will never be the same again—much like the attacks of 11 September, 2001 that changed the American psyche forever.

In a recent opinion piece published in US News & World Report, a Washington-based media outlet, Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali came up with the assurance mentioning that Bangladesh is still mourning the terror attack at Holey Artisan Bakery in Dhaka.

‘But the attack has also steeled Bangladeshis’ determination to make sure the dream of a secular, inclusive, tolerant state doesn’t die,’ he writes.

The Foreign Ministry here also distributed the article published on 5 August titled ‘Home-grown Terror: Bangladesh is committed to fighting home-grown terrorism and preserving its secular, inclusive democracy’.

‘Few can better sympathize with the parents of the victims of the Holey Artisan Bakery than she (Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina). And none is better equipped - or more determined - to fight against homegrown terror and keep the dream of a secular Bangladesh alive,’ the Foreign Minister says.

Bangladesh is all too familiar with homegrown terror, Minister Ali said adding that when the young nation was just four years old—in 1975—it experienced a horrific act of terrorism.

Rogue members of the Bangladesh military assassinated the Father of the Nation, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, and most of his family members, except two daughters who were outside the country, he writes further.

Now, 41 years later, one of those daughters, Sheikh Hasina, is the prime minister of Bangladesh.

Terrorist organisations such as the Islamic State group and al-Qaida have remarkable reach around the globe thanks to the internet and the near-ubiquity of smart phones, says Minister Ali.

‘They no longer need a base of operations in countries they wish to terrorize. Instead, they recruit online through propaganda videos and message boards. Some of these recruits, including possibly some of the Dhaka attackers, follow up on these remote appeals and visit the terrorists’ base countries to get training.’

The Foreign Minister says though Bangladeshi terrorists may pose in front of the black flag of the Islamic State group, but they are not really Islamic State terrorists.

‘They are local dissidents who have turned violent and have added another, internationally known name to their treachery. Bangladesh intelligence gathering has confirmed this.’

Ali said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina broadcast an emotional appeal to parents, asking them to tell the police about their missing children.

‘Many have already been identified and found; searches for others are underway.’