BDR mutiny might have had 8216;external links8217;: Report

8220;But the conspiracy could not succeed as no military assault was carried out to quell the rebellion,8221; the Prothom Alo newspaper quoted a committee member as saying preferring anonymity.

Several other media reports supplemented the comment quoting unnamed officials familiar with the investigation,as the government committee submitted report late on Thursday to the Home Ministry after nearly two and half months of probe.

The reports said the government committee has advised further inquiry by another expert committee into suspected 8220;foreign or external links8221; into the carnage.

The committee members,however,said they could not establish any 8220;external hand8221; in the mutiny despite wide speculations about involvement of militants,foreign terrorist groups or intelligence agencies.

8220;We have prepared the report on the basis of what we saw,heard and understood,not led by any speculation,8221; chairman of the 12-member committee retd additional secretary to the government Anisuzzaman Khan told newsmen while handing over the 309-page report to Home Minister Sahara Khatun late yesterday.

Officials familiar with the investigation said the committee noted that the mutiny was continuation of the revolts in 1973 and 1991 over leadership in the border force while the February 25-26 rebellion was part of their 8220;mission to oust the foreign birds army officers from BDR8221;.

They said killings were not part of their original plans but a number of rebels carried out the massacres going beyond the control of the mutiny leaders. The carnage had claimed lives of 57 army officers including BDR chief Maj Gen Shakil Ahmed.

8220;BDR jawans soldiers committed the murders on their own. Our investigation did not find any involvement of outsiders8211;political leaders,militants or foreign forces,8221; the Daily Star quoted a committee member as saying.

In a related development,a major mutiny suspect BDR8217;s Deputy Assistant Director Touhid Alam has been remanded in custody for fresh interrogation for seven more days,as he was in jail to face trial in treason and mutiny charges along with other suspects.

A junior BDR officer Alam,who had led a rebel delegation in talks with PM Sheikh Hasina to obtain a general amnesty for the mutineers on February 25,was arrested immediately after the security forces took control of the BDR8217;s Pilkhana headquarters and was earlier interrogated for seven days in custody.

Army headquarters last week completed an inquiry into the mutiny on their own while army chief General Moeen U Ahmed yesterday said the military was yet to decide about the publication of the 8220;exclusive report8221;.

A total of 1,394 BDR men have so far been arrested in connection with the Pilkhana carnage in Dhaka and of them 580 were interrogated on remand. Besides another 1,723 BDR soldiers were detained in 29 frontier districts for staging mutiny,breaking in arsenals and looting weapons.

Officials earlier said 21 BDR soldiers in custody or under security watch died in the past two and half months four of them committing suicides and others in heart attacks or other ailments,prompting authorities to constitute probe committee two days ago to investigate into the deaths.

Home ministry sources said a senior bureaucrat would lead the investigations into the suspected soldiers8217; deaths in custody and submit the report in next 15 days also suggesting measures to prevent such deaths or suicides in future.