Uniqlo to halt business trips to Bangladesh after attack

Japan's Fast Retailing Co., owner of the Uniqlo casual-wear brand, said it plans to suspend all business travel to Bangladesh after militants targeting foreigners killed 20 people in the country's capital on Saturday, including seven Japanese.

A Fast Retailing spokeswoman said the company had told its 10 Japanese staff based in Bangladesh to stay home until further notice, according to Reuters.

Bangladeshi Ambassador to Japan Rabab Fatima lays flowers before coffins carrying the Japanese killed in an attack on a restaurant in Dhaka at Tokyo's Haneda Airport on July 5. Photo: The Asahi Shimbun

The Asahi Shimbun reported that the bodies of the seven Japanese killed in a terrorist attack in a restaurant in Dhaka were returned to Tokyo early on July 5.

The special government plane carrying the seven bodies, along with bereaved family members, landed at Tokyo's Haneda Airport at about 5:50 a.m. after flying from Bangladesh.

Bangladesh, one of the world's poorest countries, relies on garments for around 80 percent of its exports and for about 4 million jobs, and ranks behind only China as a supplier of clothes to developed markets like Europe and the United States.

(REUTERS/THE ASAHI SHIMBUN)