A 35-hour bloody revolt by paramilitary Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) ended on Thursday evening with the rebels surrendering arms at Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's call, reports UNB.
Over 100 security personnel, including BDR chief Maj General Shakil Ahmed, were believed killed or wounded by mutineers who revolted on Wednesday morning against their commanding officers at the BDR Headquarters.
Police and Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) entered the besieged headquarters Thursday evening and took control of the headquarters as the rebels flew white flag.
Prime Minister's press secretary Abul Kalam Azad told the reporters that the situation came under full control of the government.
Home Minister Sahara Khatun, who visited the BDR headquarters after two days of hectic troubleshooting efforts, said the rebel soldiers of the border-protection force laid down their arms and returned to barracks.
She told the waiting reporters at the Rifle Square gate at night that those officers who were inside the headquarters came out as the holdup was over.
"We hope peace will return through this surrender," she said, to the solace of millions of the city-dwellers who panicked as army with tanks and armored vehicles zeroed in on the trouble-spot.
Police said 49 BDR members were arrested while fleeing the headquarters amid the truce.
BDR officer Major Zaheed, who was released from captivity in the afternoon, said more than 100 officers were killed and injured in the putsch against the hierarchy that consists of army officers.
Police recovered nine bodies of mid-ranking officers from outside the headquarters. Mutineers killed them and threw into storm-sewerage tunnels.
The BDR rebels complained that the army officers repressed them physically and financially. They also raised corruption charges against their officers. They demanded removal of the army officers from their commanding positions.
A rebel delegation met with the Prime Minister on Wednesday evening and put forward their demands, including amnesty. Hasina assured them of meeting their demands and announced amnesty for the rebels.
But tensions spilled over to different BDR camps across the country Thursday and scattered violent incidents took place -- a situation hardly seen after the country's liberation war way back in 1971 and the mid-70s putsches. After a series of negotiations between the government and the rebel leaders throughout the day Thursday, the rebellion came to and end and rattles of guns silenced.
The Prime Minister earlier had series of meetings with her cabinet members, party leaders and the chiefs of the three services to overcome the situation.
In a nationwide address over television Thursday afternoon Hasina asked the rebels to lay down their arms and return to barracks. Otherwise, she would take "tough actions for the interest of the country".
Army took positions and several tanks rolled out of cantonment towards the headquarters this afternoon before the surrender.
bdnews24.com adds: Police officers have entered the BDR compound and taken control of the main entrance, apparently ending a 33-hour mutiny.
Home minister Sahara Khatun, who entered the compound at around 4:45pm for a second time to negotiate a full surrender with BDR rebels, state minister for local government Jahangir Kabir Nanak and the police commissioner were still inside the headquarters.
Armed Police Battalion has taken control of the armory at the BDR headquarters, the prime minister's deputy press secretary Nakib Uddin Ahmed told reporters at 7pm.
He said finance minister AMA Muhith, Sahara Khatun, Nanak, whips Mirza Azam and Segufta Yasmin Emily, MPs Meher Afroze Chumki, Waresat Hossain Belal and Mahbub Ara Guinea were boarding the trapped and wounded hostages in Red Crescent ambulances.
bdnews24.com correspondents at the BDR main gate say they saw two police trucks and a pick-up van enter the compound, known as Peelkhana, at 6:33pm.
Police brought out a dejected-looking BDR officer major Quamruzzaman after a while.
Earlier, a top aide to the prime minister said all the rebellious BDR personnel surrendered and that the situation was under control.
"The situation is under complete control of the government," the prime minister's press secretary Abul Kalam Azad told reporters.
"BDR members have completed arms surrender."
Tanks and other military vehicles moved further up Satmasjid Road towards the main entrance to the BDR headquarters at 5:30pm as the standoff over rebel paramilitary troops lingered on to the second day.
The armoured vehicles, which moved up from Dhanmondi Road 12A onto Satmasjid Road to the intersection of Road 15A, were each carrying five army personnel in black uniform.
Tanks and army trucks had earlier taken position at Abahani sports field at Road 12A in the capital's Dhanmondi residential area.
The tanks took position in and around the sports field, where convoys of army soldiers were also setting up a temporary camp, less than a kilometre from the main gate of the BDR Headquarters.
At least eight armoured vehicles were seen moving up Road 27, around 4pm, closing in on the Bangladesh Rifles Headquarters in the heart of the city where hundreds of armed rebels were holding on.
Army troops had been asking people by loudspeaker to move out of the areas around the sprawling BDR complex from early afternoon.
Earlier report adds: At least 19 people, including 13 BDR officers, were freed from Bangladesh Rifles headquarters Thursday afternoon.
The officers were among those released in phases from the compound's main Zigatola gate from about 4pm, escorted by RAB and police.
The 13 released officers are: Major Riaz, Major Ishtiaq, Major Zahid, Major Zaman, Major Masud, Major Alamgir, Major Yahya, Major Shah Alam, Major Ali Ashraf, Major Mukkaram, Major Mokles, Major Mahbub and Lt Col Syed Kamruzzaman.
Major Zaman, one of the released officers, said he had counted over 100 casualties since the armed rebellion by border guards began Wednesday morning.
"I have not seen (BDR chief) Major General Shakil Ahmed since yesterday morning," he told reporters outside the compound.
Another six hostages, a woman and five children, were released from the complex minutes after the prime minister's nationwide broadcast ended earlier in the afternoon.
bdnews24.com correspondents reported that BDR rebels at the main entrance of the complex released the six at 2.41pm, where police and relatives received them.
Meanwhile, Some 90 mutinous members of BDR were arrested by the elite-force RAB in Nawabganj area near their headquarters after their revolt came to an end through arms surrender late Thursday afternoon.
Sources said RAB personnel arrested the rebels while deserting the troubled BDR headquarters, where an unspecified number of officers and jawans were killed and injured.
The arrested persons were taken to Mirpur Shaheed Suhrawardy Indoor Stadium.
The desertion started as army troops with tanks and armored vehicles kept zeroing in on Peelkhana after the 2pm deadline for the mutineers to lay down arms was over
Rebels surrender arms
FE Team | Published: February 27, 2009 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00
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