Dhaka - The Bangladesh army on Tuesday launched an independent probe into last week's troop mutiny, a day after the government reconstituted a civilian body for the inquiry, officials said.

A senior army officer, Lieutenant General Jahangir Alam Chowdhury, accompanied by a number of junior officers, visited Bangladesh Rifles headquarters, where mutineers killed at least 74 people, mostly mid-ranking and junior army officers, to collect evidence related to the carnage.

The army headquarters in Dhaka announced Monday that it would launch an investigation into the rebellion while the government reconstituted another body for the same purpose.

Immediately after the mutiny was put down, the government had commissioned a probe body headed by Home Minister Sahara Khatun.

But it was reconstituted shortly afterward, replacing the home minister with a former bureaucrat as its head and asking for a report back within seven days.

The committee, headed by Anis-uz-Zaman Khan, discussed the overall situation and worked out its strategy to conduct the investigation.

Bangladesh also sought international assistance from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation and Britain's Scotland Yard in the investigation.

The soldier rebellion against their commanders inside the headquarters of the Bangladesh Rifles border guards reportedly involved long-term deprivation and irregularities in the paramilitary force, which is commanded by officers from the regular army.

But military experts said the attack was aimed at the national army and was an attempt to destabilise newly elected government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who assumed to office in January, ending two years rule of a military-backed administration. (dpa)