Calm returns to BDR HQ; over 130 army officers still missing

Dhaka, Feb 27 (PTI) Over 130 army officers taken
hostage by Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) soldiers at its
Headquarters here remained missing Friday as the bloody mutiny
by border guards ended leaving more than 100 dead, including
its chief, officials said Friday.
The death toll could not be officially confirmed but
security sources said they feared the figure to be over 100 as
some 130 army officers remained missing with overnight frantic
search for bodies at the mutiny-ravaged BDR headquarters in
Pilkhana area here.
The survivors confirmed the death of BDR chief Major
General Shakil Ahmed at the very onset of the rebellion at a
'darbar' or meeting of soldiers with senior officers.
"Four soldiers jumped forward and killed instantly the
DG sir (Ahmed) as he stepped out of the darbar hall as the
mutiny started Wednesday," Lieutenant Colonel Syed
Quamruzzaman told reporters Friday morning.
Elite Armed Police Battalion and Dhaka Metropolitan
Police units took control of the main Pilkhana headquarters of
the paramilitary border guards after the mutineers surrendered
their arms and returned to barracks.
The police carried out a frantic search along with
fire service rescuers overnight recovering seven more bodies.
"The mutineers gunned down whoever they wanted. I was
shot at seven times and was lucky to get out alive,"
Quamruzzaman said.
Earlier, officials said 24 captive officers and
stranded families of a number of others were rescued as the
rebellions soldiers ended their laying down weapons.
One minister earlier said 50 officers may have been
killed.
A lawmaker of former Bangladesh president and military
dictator Hussain Muhammed Ershad's Jatiya Party, who entered
the BDR headquarters at Pilkhana, the site of the mutiny, said
he visited Maj Gen Ahmed's house and found it ransacked and
saw an unidentified body lying there.
The mutineers surrendered after Prime Minister Sheikh
Hasina warned they were on a "suicidal" path that could only
end in bloodshed.
Shortly after her address, army tanks surrounded the
BDR headquarters in the heart of Dhaka and also took positions
near the residence of the Prime Minister.
Faced with the possibility of an army operation, the
mutinous soldiers laid down their arms and released hostages.
Hasina has already offered the mutineers an amnesty and also
promised to address complaints over low pay and working
conditions. PTI