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Tanks roll into Bangladeshi capital after mutiny
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-02-26 21:03 DHAKA, Bangladesh -- Bangladeshi tanks rolled into the capital Thursday, hours after the prime minister warned mutinous border guards she would "do whatever is needed to end the violence."
The show of force apparently worked as guards in the compound were later seen hoisting a white flag, and Home Minister Shahara Khatun said they had resumed surrendering their weapons.
Border guards first mutinied Wednesday at the group's headquarters in Dhaka, turning their weapons on senior officers, seizing a nearby shopping center and trapping students in a school on their compound. The guards later agreed to surrender after the government said it would grant them amnesty and discuss their grievances. But on Thursday, mutineers fired shots at the commanding officer's residence at a border guard post in the southern town of Tekhnaf early Thursday, sending him fleeing, said police official Jalal Ahmed Chowdhury. Witnesses said violence also erupted at border guard posts in Cox's Bazar, Chittagong and Naikhongchari in the south, Sylhet in the northeast, Rajshahi and Naogaon in the northwest. On Thursday night, an Associated Press reporter saw several tanks had taken up positions in a residential neighborhood near the compound seized by the guards Wednesday. Local media reported seeing at least seven tanks heading toward the city. The move came shortly after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina appealed to the mutineers to surrender in a televised speech to the nation. "We don't want to use force to break the standoff," Hasina said. "But don't play with our patience. We will not hesitate to do whatever is needed to end the violence if peaceful means fails." |
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