Bangladesh rebel troops surrender

Mutinous Bangladesh border guards have laid down their weapons and surrendered, freeing all their hostages in the process, a government spokesperson said on Thursday.

“All the troops have surrendered their weapons and gone back to their barracks. The home minister and the finance ministers are there and all the hostages have been freed,” the prime minister’s spokesperson, Abul Kalam Azad, told AFP.

The surrender came just hours after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina warned the paramilitary Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) guards to lay down their arms immediately or face “tough action” as their revolt spread outside the capital, Dhaka.

In a televised address to the nation, Sheikh Hasina, who took office less than two months ago, told the guards that they were on a “suicidal route” with an uprising that officials say may have already cost 50 lives.

Officials said tensions in the BDR had been simmering for months but exploded into violence early on Wednesday when senior officers dismissed appeals for more pay, subsidised food and holidays.—Sapa-AFP