Special tribunals will try paramilitary mutineers who killed at least 80 people, mostly army officers, and more than 70 others remain missing today after the uprising, government and military officials said.
Witnesses said about 1,000 Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) troops who had fled their headquarters after the two-day mutiny, which broke out on Wednesday, had returned and were having identities checked outside the complex in the Bangladesh capital, Dhaka.
An army spokesman said yesterday that 72 officers were still missing after the mutiny by BDR border guards over pay and command disputes.
Police said they had identified up to 1,000 BDR members for investigation over the mutiny in a process that could lead to formal charges that include murder.
Government minister Syed Ashraful Islam said the decision to set up the tribunals was made at a cabinet meeting led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday.
No details about the tribunals were released but an investigation led by Home Minister Shahara Khatun has been told to hand down its first findings within a week, officials said.
Government officials said Ms Hasina had told cabinet ministers and army chief General Moeen U. Ahmed during several hours of talks at army headquarters on Sunday that all those involved in the mutiny would be brought to justice.
Bangladesh's foreign ministry said Ms Hasina sought assistance from the US FBI to investigate the BDR mutiny.
She asked for assistance when Richard Boucher, US assistant secretary of state, called her to express his government's support for Bangladesh as the country responded to the aftermath of the mutiny.
One of the survivors, Lieutenant-Colonel Mohammad Salam, told reporters that not all BDR troops had taken part. "Some even sheltered and saved their officers," he said.
The mutiny ended on Thursday after Ms Hasina first offered an amnesty and then threatened stronger action.
Bangladesh army officials have described the mutiny as the biggest massacre of defence commanders anywhere in the world.
The military, however, has pledged its loyalty to Ms Hasina, who only came to office two months ago after winning parliamentary elections in December that brought to an end two years of emergency rule by an army-backed interim government.
Reuters