| GEO World | | Fifty feared dead in Bangladesh mutiny | Updated at: 0321 PST, Thursday, February 26, 2009
DHAKA: Fifty Bangladeshi army officers are said to have been killed in an armed mutiny staged by border guards, the country's deputy law minister told reporters early Thursday.
Kamrul Islam went inside the headquarters of the paramilitary Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) after thousands of rebel guards who mutinied against their superiors over pay surrendered their arms.
"We talked to the BDR troops and they said some 50 officers have been killed," he said, adding he could not confirm the deaths as he had not seen the bodies.
"We heard that the casualties were kept at a hospital inside the compound," he said.
Television footage showed about 30 people, said to be the relatives of the captured army officers, being driven from the compound, where they reportedly spent the siege holed up in their bathrooms.
Women with small children in their arms could be seen weeping as they emerged from the barracks.
The army said earlier that the mutineers were holding more than 100 people captive inside the BDR headquarters in Dhaka, including around 50 army officers and their families.
It said the bodies of two top army officers were earlier found dumped in a drain outside the barracks. Both had gunshot wounds.
The rebel soldiers began laying down their arms early Thursday after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina offered an amnesty and agreed to meet their demands. |  |
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