Bangladesh security forces arrested nearly 200 border troops yesterday in a nationwide manhunt for mutineers who staged a bloody two-day revolt that turned the capital into a battle zone.
The fate of more than 130 army officers taken hostage by the mutineering guards remained unclear, however, after the rank-and-file troops surrendered and returned to barracks late on Thursday.
Police have put the official death toll at 22, with dozens more injured — but that figure could go up significantly. Some bodies of murdered officers have been pulled from sewers.
“We have arrested nearly 200 Bangladesh Rifles [BDR] troops who fled their barracks in civilian dress. We were given orders to arrest the mutineers,” said a spokesman for the elite Rapid Action Battalion, Commander Abul Kalam Azad.
He said checkpoints had been set up at all routes leading out of the capital Dhaka and surrounding the BDR barracks.
“We are searching buses and trucks for any other rebel troops,” he said.
The BDR guards, who were demanding better pay and conditions, surrendered after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina warned they were on a “suicidal” path that could only end in bloodshed.
As calm returned yesterday to Dhaka, one regular army officer held hostage by the guards talked of his escape as his captors opened fire indiscriminately.
“It was cold-blooded murder,” Syed Kamruzzaman said, adding that BDR chief Major General Shakil Ahmed was gunned down in front of him.
Officials would not confirm Ahmed’s death.
“They hurled abuse at us and gunned down whoever they wanted. I was shot at seven times and was lucky to get out alive,” he said.
An armed forces spokesman said only 31 of the 168 officers inside the Dhaka headquarters when the mutiny began were accounted for and rescue workers were searching sewers in the compound for bodies.
“We don’t know what happened to the rest of the 137 officers. They are still missing,” he said.
One minister earlier said 50 officers may have been killed.
Tensions in the BDR had been simmering for months but erupted into violence early on Wednesday when senior officers rejected appeals for more pay, subsidized food and holidays.
It then petered out, however, after Sheikh Hasina — who took office only two months ago, although she had served as prime minister once before — appeared on national television and threatened to put down the mutiny by force.
The violence was the first major crisis she has faced since her landslide election victory ended two years of army-backed rule.
She had offered the mutineers an amnesty on Wednesday and also promised to address complaints over low pay and working conditions.
Manzoor Hasan, the director of BRAC University’s Institute of Governance Studies in Dhaka, said there were a “few worrying hours” where the prime minister appeared to be losing control.
“It was a bit of a baptism by fire for her. It was a critical test, but I think in the end she tackled it competently,” he said.
The revolt has highlighted the frustrations felt by many in Bangladesh, which suffers from high food prices, a slowing economy and rampant corruption in the upper echelon of society.
Bangladesh has had a history of political violence, coups and counter-coups since winning independence from Pakistan in 1971.
It was run by a military dictator from 1982 to 1990 before democracy was restored in 1991. In January 2007, the army again stepped in, canceled elections and declared a state of emergency after months of political unrest.
In the sweltering streets of Jakarta, buskers carry towering, hollow puppets and pass around a bucket for donations. Now, they fear becoming outlaws. City authorities said they would crack down on use of the sacred ondel-ondel puppets, which can stand as tall as a truck, and they are drafting legislation to remove what they view as a street nuisance. Performances featuring the puppets — originally used by Jakarta’s Betawi people to ward off evil spirits — would be allowed only at set events. The ban could leave many ondel-ondel buskers in Jakarta jobless. “I am confused and anxious. I fear getting raided or even
Eleven people, including a former minister, were arrested in Serbia on Friday over a train station disaster in which 16 people died. The concrete canopy of the newly renovated station in the northern city of Novi Sad collapsed on Nov. 1, 2024 in a disaster widely blamed on corruption and poor oversight. It sparked a wave of student-led protests and led to the resignation of then-Serbian prime minister Milos Vucevic and the fall of his government. The public prosecutor’s office in Novi Sad opened an investigation into the accident and deaths. In February, the public prosecutor’s office for organized crime opened another probe into
RISING RACISM: A Japanese group called on China to assure safety in the country, while the Chinese embassy in Tokyo urged action against a ‘surge in xenophobia’ A Japanese woman living in China was attacked and injured by a man in a subway station in Suzhou, China, Japanese media said, hours after two Chinese men were seriously injured in violence in Tokyo. The attacks on Thursday raised concern about xenophobic sentiment in China and Japan that have been blamed for assaults in both countries. It was the third attack involving Japanese living in China since last year. In the two previous cases in China, Chinese authorities have insisted they were isolated incidents. Japanese broadcaster NHK did not identify the woman injured in Suzhou by name, but, citing the Japanese
RESTRUCTURE: Myanmar’s military has ended emergency rule and announced plans for elections in December, but critics said the move aims to entrench junta control Myanmar’s military government announced on Thursday that it was ending the state of emergency declared after it seized power in 2021 and would restructure administrative bodies to prepare for the new election at the end of the year. However, the polls planned for an unspecified date in December face serious obstacles, including a civil war raging over most of the country and pledges by opponents of the military rule to derail the election because they believe it can be neither free nor fair. Under the restructuring, Myanmar’s junta chief Min Aung Hlaing is giving up two posts, but would stay at the
RSS