Dozens of corpses found after Bangladesh mutiny

DHAKA, Bangladesh - Firefighters searching the headquarters compound of Bangladesh's border guards yesterday uncovered the grisly results of the force's two-day mutiny - dozens of senior officers massacred, their bodies hurriedly dumped into shallow graves and sewers.

By nightfall, 44 bodies had been found, including that of Maj. Gen. Shakil Ahmed, the commander of the guards. That brought the confirmed death toll to 66, fire official Mizanur Rahman said. Dozens more officers were missing.

While newly elected Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina ended the revolt in two days, persuading the mutinous guards to surrender through promises of amnesty coupled with threats of military force, the insurrection raised new questions about stability in this poor South Asian nation.

Hasina said yesterday that there would be no amnesty for the killers. And Dhaka's largest newspaper, the Daily Star, lauded Hasina in an editorial for "sagacious handling of the situation which resulted in the prevention of a further bloodbath."

But the bloodshed underlined the fragile relationship between Bangladesh's civilian leaders and the military, which has stepped in previously to quell what the generals considered dangerous political instability. The country returned to democracy only in January, two years after the army ousted the previous government amid rioting over disputed election results.

Hasina has a bitter history with the military. She is the daughter of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Bangladesh's independence leader and first head of state from 1971 until a 1975 military coup killed him.

The rebellion in the Bangladesh Rifles border force paralyzed the capital and unsettled this nation of 150 million people. "It's a setback for Sheikh Hasina's new government. It's now a test for her how she handles the military," political analyst Ataur Rahman said.

The army chief, Gen. Moeen U. Ahmed, met with Hasina late yesterday and said that "the military will stand by the government."

After the border guards' surrender Thursday, search teams moved into the Bangladesh Rifles compound. One area held two mass graves where slain officers had been put into shallow holes and covered with mounds of dirt. Firefighters used crowbars to pry off manhole covers and recover more corpses stuffed into sewers.

"We are digging out dozens of decomposing bodies," Brig. Gen. Abu Naim Shahidullah told the private NTV network.