Terrorists who murdered 22 people in Dhaka this weekend were wealthy, well-educated young Bangladeshis whom police had previously tried to arrest, it emerged on Sunday.

Identities of the five gunmen shot dead by police circulated quickly online after images of them posing with weapons prior to the attack were released by Amaq, the news agency of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil).

The men, in their early- and mid-twenties, had attended some of Bangladesh's top schools and universities, according to classmates who identified them on social media. Many of those identified had gone missing in recent months.