Six Bangladesh Army and Border Guard Bangladesh personnel were killed when a mortar shell exploded inside the barrel during an exercise at Ghatail Cantonment in Tangail.
At least 10 BGB personnel, including a major, were also injured in the explosion.
After visiting the spot, Maj Gen Aziz Ahmed, director general of BGB, told a TV channel, “It was an accident. After successful firing of three shells, the fourth shell detonated prematurely inside the barrel.”
BGB members from the Dinajpur sector were on their annual live firing exercise with a Chinese 82mm mortar at the army-run Midharchala field firing range when the shell exploded around 12:10pm blowing off the mortar barrel from its base plate, reports our Tangail correspondent.
Senior warrant officers Manju and Parvez of Ghatail Cantonment and BGB sepoy Abu Sufian, sepoy Ekramul Haque and lance nayek Mohammad Ali of 3 battalion, and sepoy Mohammad Ali Jinnah of 40 battalion of BGB died. The two army personnel were at the spot for medical cover and to provide the BGB men with other logistic support.
 

L-R: Mohammad Ali, Abu Sufian and Ekramul Haque

The injured were flown to Combined Military Hospital (CMH) in Dhaka on a military helicopter, according to a press release of the BGB.
Mohsin Reza, BGB public relations officer, last night told The Daily Star that of the injured, sepoy Jinnah succumbed to his injuries at CMH at 10:45pm.
According to a well-placed source in the military, the incident was the first of its kind in Bangladesh. Shell explosion inside a mortar barrel does not happen even once in firing 1,000 ammunition, the source said.
“The barrel could heat up too much and that might have caused the explosion. But we cannot say anything with certainty without investigation,” the source added.
Separate probe teams of the army and the BGB would look into the incident.

A military police officer looks at a mortar at the Ghatail Cantonment firing range in Tangail. The explosion of a shell inside a similar mortar killed six men of the army and the BGB yesterday. Photo: Star

The bodies of the deceased were at the morgue of Salimullah Medical College and would be handed over to the families sometime today, sources at the BGB said.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina expressed her grief at the deaths of five members of the armed forces. Wishing eternal peace for the departed souls, she conveyed her condolences to the bereaved families and asked authorities concerned to make sure the injured get the best treatment.