Rohan Imtiaz epitomized Bangladesh’s new urban middle class. The son of a politician, he was a business student at one of the best private universities in Dhaka. His future appeared bright.

But when his parents returned Jan. 1 from a medical visit to India, Imtiaz was missing. Although his father, S.M. Imtiaz Khan Babul, a mid-level official in the governing Awami League party, filed a police report and met with various law enforcement agencies, six months passed with no trace of his son.

Imtiaz finally surfaced over the weekend in a shocking way: He was identified as one of five suspected Islamist radicals who stormed a Dhaka restaurant, took patrons hostage and methodically killed 23 people, most of them foreigners, in an attack that was claimed by Islamic State.

“Rohan rarely used to get free time from his studies to do anything,” said a woman who answered the door at the Imtiaz family’s home in Dhaka and identified herself as his aunt. “We just don’t know when someone else motivated him to do this.”

The deadliest assault by far in more than a year of militant violence in Bangladesh has sent this South Asian nation of 160 million reeling, not only over its brutality but also over the identities of the suspected killers — mostly middle-class, educated men in their 20s who did not outwardly seem prone to radicalism.

Bangladeshi officials said Tuesday that they had identified the five suspects who were killed in the attack, describing them as members of banned domestic Islamist radical organizations. Their names were first reported after the Amaq news agency, which is affiliated with Islamic State, released photos of the men following the attack, allowing friends to identify them on social media.

Authorities, who also released photos of the deceased suspects from the crime scene, said their families were notified as of Tuesday.

“They are all Bangladeshis,” Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal said.

According to the reports, most belonged to well-off families and studied at some of the city’s top Western-curriculum schools before going missing earlier this year. They were said to have frequented restaurants such as the Holey Artisan Bakery in the upscale Gulshan section of the capital, which was packed Friday night with Bangladeshi and expatriate diners during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

One was a chef at the restaurant, identified as Saiful Islam Chowkidar by a co-worker who escaped the siege and spoke to reporters.

Chowkidar’s wife, who is seven months’ pregnant, said he had spent 10 years in Germany before returning to Bangladesh and had been working at the restaurant about one and a half years, the daily Amader Shomoy reported Monday.

As authorities question family members and some of the hostages who were freed when army commandos raided the restaurant Saturday morning, the backgrounds of the young men offered insight into the reach of Islamic State’s extremist propaganda.

“If you look at the profiles of many militants, those who have gone from Europe or Canada or the U.S. to fight [with Islamic State] in Syria, many if not most have come from middle class, established families,” said Ali Riaz, a professor at Illinois State University who studies radical Islamism in South Asia.

Meer Same Mubashher, 18, went missing Feb. 29 from his home in the Gulshan area of Dhaka, authorities said. His father, Meer Hayet Kabir, filed a missing persons report. During the investigation, police found security camera video showing Mubashher, who was believed to be going to see his private tutor, leaving his car during a traffic jam, the Prothom Alo daily newspaper reported.

Another suspect was identified through social media as Nibras Islam, described as a young man from an upper-class family who studied computer science and played for his university’s soccer team.

Bangladesh police said another gunman, Shafiqul Islam Uzzal, 25, hailed from the northern district of Bogra. Local media reported that he had left home six months ago for an Islamic proselytizing mission, and his parents identified him after they were shown photographs.

The attack killed nine Italians, seven Japanese, one Indian, three Bangladeshis and one Bangladeshi-born American citizen. Two Bangladeshi police officers also were killed.

A suicide bombing outside the mosque where the prophet Muhammad is buried in Medina, Saudi Arabia, rattled the global Muslim community Monday, proving that nothing — not even one of Islam’s holiest sites — is safe from terrorism.

Four Saudi guards were killed and five others were wounded after the attacker detonated his explosive vest in the parking lot outside the Prophet’s Mosque, the Interior Ministry said.

Inside the mosque, thousands of worshipers were gathered for sunset prayer on one of the last days of the holy month of Ramadan.

Islamic State has not claimed responsibility for the attack, but the use of a suicide bomber and the proximity to a mosque indicate that the attack was carried out by someone who either had operational links to the militant group or was at least inspired by it, said Fahad Nazer, a non-resident fellow at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington, D.C.

“This attack has made it very clear that ISIS does not seem to believe in any moral red lines whatsoever,” Nazer said, using an acronym for Islamic State. “Even Al Qaeda, which is certainly brutal in its own right, has never targeted Muslims in their houses of worship. ISIS has done that repeatedly.”

Saudi Arabia is an enemy of Islamic State, despite the fact that wealthy Saudi donors have been an important source of funding for the group. Saudi Arabia is the ultimate target for the Islamic State’s expansion because it is the birthplace of Islam and home to its two holiest cities, Mecca and Medina. Sunni-led Islamic State has carried out acts of terror against the kingdom’s Shiite minority as well as its royal family, which the group sees as corrupt and beholden to Western allies.

The Prophet’s Mosque is a major Islamic holy site that millions of Muslims visit every year in conjunction with pilgrimages to Mecca. According to Islamic tradition, Mecca and Medina are supposed to be places of refuge. Muslims believe that before Jesus returns to restore justice, the Antichrist will have free reign over the Earth, but won’t be allowed to enter these cities.

“The sanctity of both Mecca and Medina is one that the overwhelming majority of Muslims believe in. There’s an understanding that an attack on these cities is the gravest sin,” said Nazer.

Within 24 hours, similar attacks took place near mosques at two other locations in Saudi Arabia — one close to the U.S. consulate in Jidda, and one in Qatif, a city with a majority Shiite population.

Maha Akeel, director of the information department at the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in Jidda, said it’s too soon to tell if the attacks were related, but Saudi authorities are investigating the matter.

“These could be ‘lone wolf’ cases with different motives, but they could also be coordinated,” she said.

Saudi Arabia is part of the U.S.-led coalition fighting Islamic State in Iraq and Syria and extremists view the Saudi government to be enemies of Islam. The Interior Ministry reported in June that there have been 26 terrorist attacks in Saudi Arabia in the last two years.

“They, whoever they are, are clearly trying to undermine the security, stability and authority of Saudi Arabia because it has been at the forefront of fighting terrorism,” said Akeel.

“It’s like a stab in the heart of every Muslim,” tweeted Jenan Moussa, a reporter for Al Aan TV, along with a photo that showed a thick cloud of black smoke rising above Medina from the site of the attack.

Follow Jenan Moussa ✔@jenanmoussa This picture is so symbolic. It's like a stab in the heart of every Muslim. #Medina @akhbarpic.twitter.com/L46glGVp79 3:47 PM - 4 Jul 2016 2,0702,070 Retweets 1,3421,342 likes

Iran’s foreign minister, Javad Zarif, tweeted: “Sunnis, Shiites will both remain victims unless we stand united as one.”Leaders from around the world, including Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, spoke out against Monday’s attacks in Saudi Arabia and called for Muslim unity.

Zeid Ra’ad Hussein, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights said: “This is one of the holiest sites in Islam, and for such an attack to take place there, during Ramadan, can be considered a direct attack on Muslims all across the world.”

(Los Angeles Times)