Dhaka  - The death toll from day-long shootings by rebel troops of Bangladesh paramilitary border forces against their commanders inside the Bangladesh Rifles
(BDR) headquarters rose to five with two more deaths reported in hospitals Wednesday, officials said.

Hospital authorities said two of the dead were mid-ranking officers of the Bangladesh Army and three were civilians.

Members of the International Red Crescent rescued as many as 20 troopers, who sustained bullet wounds, from inside the BDR headquarters, for better medical treatment. They believed more bodies remained inside the compound.

"If we are permitted, we will be come in aid to the government," Abdur Rob, the chairman of organisation, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa late Wednesday, indicating casualties were higher than presumed earlier.

The emergency team was allowed inside when the rebel troops halted firing during negotiations between the government and a delegation of the 14 rebel troopers at the prime minister's official Jamuna residence.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wazed announced a general amnesty for the rebel troops in the evening as the troops agreed to surrender arms and return to their barracks.

Following their return, the rebels refused to lay down their weapons, demanding the government withdraw regular army troops deployed around the headquarters in the wake of heavy exchanges of fire.

As the first round talks failed, a junior minister started a fresh dialogue with the mutineers, who wanted total withdrawal of the army officers from the commanding position of the BDR force replacing with their own officers.

They started trading gunshots again in the night instead of going back to the camps. Senior military officials were in meetings to determine the next course of action to end the mutiny.

Earlier in the morning, small arms and mortar fire erupted inside the central Dhaka headquarters. Regular army troops attempting to enter were fired on and turned away.

The paramilitary soldiers inside the headquarters compound, who constitute the country's main border security force, also fired at several military helicopters hovering overhead. Regular army troops and police evacuated civilians from the vicinity of the compound.

The condition of many senior officials of the BDR, including its chief Major General Shakil Ahmed who heads the 67,000-strong forces, was not known.

The rebels say they took them as hostage while rumours run high that Ahmed was among officers who were killed.

Shopping complexes, schools and major streets around the BDR headquarters were closed throughout the day amid a heavy security presence.

Sources inside the headquarters said the shooting began in the morning when senior officers, mostly from the regular army, were conducting an annual conference at which soldiers were allowed to vent their grievances.

Instead of just complaining, the enlisted men shouted at the officers on the podium and then held them hostage in the base's conference room.

Several hundred of the soldiers then took control of the artillery and other heavy weapons inside the 2.6-square-kilometre compound, located in a densely-populated residential area.

"The officers opened fire on us and we only retaliated," an angry soldier told a group of journalists. He added that the officers were taken hostage and would not be released until demands, which include the removal of some army officers from top posts, were met.

Firing paused in the afternoon when a government delegation headed by the junior minister Jahangir Kabir entered the headquarters and came out shortly after along with a few rebel soldiers who were taken to Prime Minister Hasina's official Jamuna residence for talks.

The paramilitary troopers alleged the army officers had been depriving them of their privileges.

"The country was liberated 38 years ago, but our department is not. We want absolute independence, our department will be run by our own officers," shouted one of the BDR soldiers carrying a Chinese- made rifle.

Other soldiers inside the compound shouted they were ready to die and accused army officers of embezzling millions of dollars allocated to the BDR forces.

"If our demands are not met, we will continue our movement across 400 camps across Bangladesh," said one angry trooper.

Another paramilitary soldier said the army officers were confined in a room inside the compound. "We did not kill them. Only one officer was killed," said the trooper, giving no other details.

Bangladesh returned to civilian rule in December after two years under a military-backed government.

India was closely monitoring the situation in Dhaka, diplomatic sources said. Troops along India's border with Bangladesh have been placed on alert.

Bangladesh is encircled by Indian territory, and the two nations share a 4,096-kilometre border. (dpa)