Dhaka: Several foreigners are among a number of people taken hostage in a Dhaka restaurant by gunmen on Friday evening, the chief of Bangladesh's special police force said. 

Restaurant employee Sumon Reza said he was on the 1st floor when the gunmen barged into the restaurant, reported another news agency United News of Bangladesh.

He said at least 20 foreigners were inside the eatery when the criminals, maximum eight in number, entered it.

Reza said he along with 12-15 other employees went to the rooftop and climbed down outside through pipes.

Gunmen stormed a crowded restaurant popular with foreigners in the Bangladeshi capital on Friday night, apparently taking diners hostage and sparking a firefight with police in which at least one officer was killed, officials said.

Banani Police Station Officer-in-charge Salauddin Khan was reportedly killed and around 53 people, including several policemen, were injured in an exchange gunfire between police and gunmen who stormed into a Spanish restaurant in Dhaka’s Gulshan area on Friday night and took inmates hostage. 

The attackers entered a Spanish restaurant in Dhaka's diplomatic quarter and opened fire at around 9:20pm (1320 GMT), police said.

The US State Department said it appeared to be a hostage situation, and a senior Bangladeshi government official confirmed to AFP there were several people inside the restaurant.

President Barack Obama has been briefed about the attack on a restaurant in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka on Friday, the White House said.

Talking to reporters at the spot at about 11:15pm, RAB chief Benazir Ahmed said Eight to nine gunmen had attacked the restaurant in the Gulshan area of the capital, he said. 

He, however, said the criminals allowed some of the restaurant employees to come out.

Benazir said they would try to talk to the criminals and resolve problem in a peaceful manner as it is their first choice.

He also called upon the television channels not to telecast the drive live in the national interest. 

Meanwhile, Inspector General of Police AKM Shahidul Hoque visited the injured at United Hospital.