Search goes on for the missing
A soldier stands guard near the bodies of six army officers after they were recovered from the Nawabganj Bazar Sluice Gate area. Picture inset shows a relative breaking into tears as the bodies were brought up.
Relatives of missing army officers continue to search the city hospitals frantically for their loved ones.
Khairul Anam, brother of an army major, enquired the wounded Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) members at the Holy Family Red Crescent Hospital whether they knew anything about his missing brother yesterday.
"We heard his voice over the telephone last time at about 12:00noon on Wednesday. He said 'I am in danger, cannot talk now.' We lost track of him since then," he said.
His brother moved to the BDR headquarters along with his wife and their three-month old son who remained confined there, said Khairul, who had earlier searched the Combined Military Hospital and several other hospitals for his brother.
Meanwhile, some 17 BDR members with bullet wounds were shifted to the Holy Family Hospital from the BDR Hospital.
They are Jahangir, Hazi Mir Masum, Deputy Assistant Director Kader, Anwar, Abdul Aziz, Babul, Golam Shahin, Mahbub Alam, Mohsin, Masum Billah, Mosleudddin, Abdul Jalil, Havildar Rafiqe, Abul Kalam, Nurul Huda and Shahjahan.
"The condition of two BDR men is critical. They have been kept at the Coronary Care Unit. We have referred another to the National Institute of Diseases of Chest and Hospital on Wednesday night after he complained of chest pain," said Swadhinata Chikitshak Parishad President Dr Moniruzzaman Bhuiyan at the Holy Family Hospital.
BDR jawan Golam Shaheen, who was shot in the back, said, "We have been deprived of many things for a long time. It was enough to fuel anger among the soldiers. But we could not imagine that something like this would happen."
"I was present at the meeting at the Darbar Hall where discussion on Operation Dal-bhat was going on. I was on the eastern side of the hall. Suddenly I heard a commotion and a moment later firing began on the western side of the hall where the high-ups were seated," said injured BDR Deputy Assistant Director Abdul Jalil.
Runa Laila, wife of Farook Ahmed, a physician at the BDR Hospital, was also admitted to the Holy Family Hospital with bullet wounds.
"When my two children and I heard numerous gunshots on Wednesday, I locked up our flat at BDR Quarters-1. Suddenly I was hit in the abdomen by a stray bullet that penetrated a door of the house," she said.
"I was rescued after one and a half hours and taken to the BDR Hospital. Later, I was shifted to the Holy Family Hospital on Wednesday night," she told The Daily Star.
Health Minister Prof AFM Ruhul Haque and Prof Syed Modasser Ali, adviser to the prime minister, visited the injured BDR members at the hospital in the morning.
They enquired about their condition and said the government will bear the costs of their treatment.
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