Border guards surrender after mutiny over pay

MUTINOUS Bangladeshi border guards who seized control of their headquarters completed their surrender yesterday after tanks were sent into the capital as a show of force, the government said.

The guards, who are angry over their pay, had agreed overnight to surrender after the government promised them an amnesty and agreed to look into their demands for better conditions. The death toll rose to 11 after one more body was found near the compound.

But the process stalled and the revolt looked to be spreading to other areas yesterday until the prime minister issued a harsh warning to the rebels, backed up by tanks rolling through the streets of the capital.

Apparently intimidated by the move, the guards hoisted a white flag yesterday afternoon and resumed laying down arms.

“All the mutinous border guards have surrendered their weapons,” government negotiator Mahbub Ara Gini told reporters, adding that all military officials with their families trapped inside the headquarters had been evacuated.

Home Minister Shahara Khatun said police then took control of the compound. She said no more bodies had been discovered in the compound.

Officials had earlier said they feared up to 50 people were dead.

Border guards first mutinied on Wednesday at their headquarters in Dhaka, turning weapons on officers, seizing a nearby shopping centre and trapping students in a school.