Bangladeshi police were on Sunday hunting for more than 1,000 troops accused of murder during a bloody mutiny in which 77 people have so far been confirmed dead.
As the cases were lodged against members of the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR), security forces and emergency relief teams dug up rose gardens at the soldiers' Dhaka headquarters in the search for 70 army officers who are still missing.
"Cases have been filed against more than 1,000 BDR troops who were involved with the mutiny in Dhaka last week," Nabojit Khisa, a police station chief in Dhaka, told AFP.
Khisa said some of the men would be hanged if found guilty of masterminding the action, which ended late Thursday after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina met a small group of the BDR border troops and threatened to end the mutiny by force.
Six of those who met the premier are on the wanted list for the 33-hour killing spree, which was reportedly triggered by long-standing complaints over pay and conditions. Sheikh Hasina declared an amnesty for those who surrendered, but later said those who committed murder would be punished.
Several hundred soldiers reported to the BDR headquarters in Dhaka on Sunday as a deadline for them to return to their barracks expired.
"I've been in hiding for four days because I was worried about the consequences of this," Hossain, 35, told AFP. "I am stunned at how barbaric the killings were. When I heard gunshots I fled out the door in civilian dress." Anxious relatives of the missing - many losing hope four days after their loved ones were last seen alive - watched as those in charge of the operation promised all of the victims would be found.
"We will look in every part of every house and dig up every garden if we have to," fire chief Sheikh Mohammad Shahjalal said. "The search will continue until the last missing officer is found." Most of the 77 bodies - many of them riddled with bullet wounds and mutilated by bayonets - were found in graves concealed under leaves and loose dirt. The BDR chief and his wife were among the dead.
Divers have pulled some bodies from underground sewers and an operation was under way to flush out the drainage system under the compound to ensure no corpses had been missed. Local government minister Syed Ashraful Islam told reporters Sunday that a special tribunal would be established to try the accused, while the US embassy urged "all Bangladeshis to work together to overcome this national tragedy." Some analysts warned that revenge attacks by outraged army officers and their allies could destabilise the country, which returned to democracy only two months ago after elections replaced a military-backed government.
"There's a legacy of bloodshed in this country. If you spill the blood of others, they might seek revenge," said Ataur Rahman, a professor of politics at Dhaka University. Tensions in the BDR had simmered for months before bubbling over, reportedly when officers rejected appeals for more pay, subsidised food and holidays. The mutiny was the first major crisis faced by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina since her landslide election win on December 29.
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