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Bangladesh police deny any rescued hostages in their custody

Associated Press
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File � In this Friday, July 1, 2016 file photo, people help an unidentified injured person after a group of armed gunmen attacked a restaurant popular with foreigners in a diplomatic zone of the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka. Police in Bangladesh denied Saturday, July 16, that they're still holding anyone rescued during this month's bloody attack on a restaurant by radical Islamists, saying they've questioned and released two former hostages reportedly missing since the attack. Human Rights Watch said all of the hostages except for Hasnat Karim, a British national, 47, and Tahmid Hasib Khan, a student at the University of Toronto, 22, were released by authorities on July 3. (AP Photo/File) (The Associated Press)

File � In this Saturday, July 2, 2016 file photo, Bangladeshi soldiers ride armored vehicles as they prepare to raid a restaurant where armed gunmen took hostages in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Police in Bangladesh denied Saturday, July 16, that they're still holding anyone rescued during this month's bloody attack on a restaurant by radical Islamists, saying they've questioned and released two former hostages reportedly missing since the attack. Human Rights Watch said all of the hostages except for Hasnat Karim, a British national, 47, and Tahmid Hasib Khan, a student at the University of Toronto, 22, were released by authorities on July 3. (AP Photo/File) (The Associated Press)

Police in Bangladesh have denied they're still holding anyone rescued during this month's bloody attack on a restaurant by radical Islamists, saying they've questioned and released two former hostages reportedly missing since the attack.

Masudur Rahman, a Dhaka police spokesman, said Saturday that Hasnat Karim, a British national, and Tahmid Hasib Khan, a student at the University of Toronto, were not in police custody.

Rahman was commenting on a statement by New York-based Human Rights Watch asking Bangladesh's government to guarantee the rights of Karim and Khan, who were held hostage by the attackers and later questioned by authorities.

The men's families and a rights group say the two have been missing since then.

Five armed extremists killed 20 hostages in the July 1 attack.