Bangladesh frees 178 troops over deadly 2009 mutiny

A former member of the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR), who were detained in 2009 over a violent mutiny that massacred dozens of senior army officers, meets with his relative after getting released from the Dhaka Central Jail in Keraniganj on the outskirts of Dhaka on January 23, 2025. [File, AFP]

Bangladesh let 178 former paramilitary troops walk free from jail Thursday, nearly 16 years after they were detained over a violent mutiny that massacred dozens of senior army officers.

Rampaging troops from the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) murdered 74 people during the two-day revolt that began in Dhaka and spread across the country in 2009, destabilising the government of then-premier Sheikh Hasina weeks after she took office.