BDR mutiny spreads across B'desh; 50 army officers feared dead

Anisur Rahman

Dhaka, Feb 26 (PTI) A bloody mutiny by Bangladesh Rifles
(BDR) Thursday spread to areas outside the national capital,
as the death toll in the uprising over pay dispute mounted to
over 50 with retrieval of five more bodies including that of a
Brigadier from Pilkhana garrison here.

As the renegade BDR personnel started laying down their
weapons in Dhaka in response to a general amnesty announced by
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, reports said that BDR soldiers
in the outlying provinces had also joined the rebellion.

TV channels reported that rebellion had broken out in 12
border districts where senior officers, mostly from the army
had fled. According to police, BDR personnel in Joypurhat
district indulged in indiscriminate firing.

In Dinajpur and Rangpur districts -- both sectoral
headquarters of BDR -- soldiers came out of barracks and held
demonstrations, but there was no report of violence.

As many as 50 senior army officers may have been killed
in the revolt in Pilkhana Headquarters yesterday.

"We fear some 50 people are dead," Junior Law Minister
Quamrul Islam told reporters today outside the Headquarters,
the scene of heavy gunbattles yesterday.

Police said they confirmed the identities of at least two
of them, BDR's Deputy Director General Brigadier Abdul Bari
and Operations Director Colonel Anis.

Prime Minister Hasina would address the nation on the
happenings.

The sources last night confirmed at least six deaths,
three being civilians, but the police said five more bodies
believed to be of BDR officers were recovered overnight from
nearby Nababganj Embankment area alongside the Pilkhana.

Witnesses said most rebel soldiers still remained in
war gears as the rebels feared military assaults as army
troops continued to lay a siege around the BDR complex with
artillery hardware.

They said Agriculture Minister Matia Chowdhury entered
the complex for fresh negotiations to pursue the rebels to lay
their weapons as the negotiators earlier said the rebels were
divided in several groups without having an "organised
command".

"They are of different opinions but we talked and
listened to all of them... we continued the discussions,"
Taposh said.