(Image source from: Rediff.com)

Bangladesh police department has charged eight terrorists over a 2016 attack on a coffee shop in Dhaka that killed 22 people, and unfettered a British suspect imprisoned deprived of custody for the past two years.

After 2016 attack in Dhaka, Briton Hasnat Karim was confined on suspicion of being involved. Rights group Amnesty International had canvassed for his release.

Karim was with his domestic rejoicing his daughter's 13th birthday at the coffee shop when terrorists rushed in, taking 22 captives, typically foreigners, who were killed over 12 hours.

Karim became a suspect after he approved to a demand to act as a human shield during the trial, witnesses said at the time.

Monirul Islam, the head of the police's counter-terrorism and transnational crime unit, said on Monday that the probe found Karim was not included.

"During our two-year long investigation, we did not find any involvement (of Karim) in this attack directly or indirectly, so he was acquitted from this case," Islam said.

ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) had claimed accountability for the cafe attack, though Bangladesh has denied the group's participation and Islam said the investigation showed no participation of overseas terrorists.

"All of them belong to (Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh), a homegrown militant group," he said, saying eight terrorists had been charged.

Nine Italians, seven Japanese, an Indian and a Bangladeshi-American and four Bangladeshis, as well as police, were slain.

By Sowmya Sangam