Bangladesh Rifles revolt

Bangladesh Rifles Revolt
	; Bangladesh Army tanks deployed in response to the unrest in Pilkhana
Date	25 February 2009 – 2 March 2009 (6 days)
Location	Bangladesh Pilkhana, Dhaka; 23°44′04″N 90°22′39″E / 23.7345°N 90.3776°E
Result	Revolt Fails Surrender of mutineers; Mutineers assassinate many high-ranking officers, including the Chief of the Bangladesh Rifles.;
Belligerents
Bangladesh Rifles (mutineers)	Bangladesh Bangladesh Army; Bangladesh Rifles; Bangladesh Police Rapid Action Battalion; ; ;
Commanders and leaders
Unknown	Sheikh Hasina; General Moeen U Ahmed; Major General Ashab Uddin ; Shakil Ahmed X;
Strength
1,200 mutineers	Unknown
Casualties and losses
8 killed, 200 captured	57 killed, 6 missing
	17 civilians killed

The Bangladesh Rifles revolt, also known as the Pilkhana massacre or Pilkhana tragedy, was a mutiny that took place on 25–26 February 2009 in Dhaka, when a group of Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) personnel seized the force’s headquarters in Pilkhana. The mutineers killed Director General Shakil Ahmed, 56 other army officers and 17 civilians, fired on bystanders, held officers and their families hostage, and looted and vandalised property. Unrest later spread to several other cities before the rebels surrendered following negotiations with the government.

In 2013, a Dhaka court convicted hundreds of accused BDR personnel in what international human rights organisations criticised as an unfair mass trial. On 23 December 2024, the Ministry of Home Affairs established a seven-member commission to re-investigate the incident, which reported in November 2025 that the mutiny had been a planned operation rather than a spontaneous uprising, alleging involvement of senior Awami League figures, including incumbent Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, and flagging evidence destruction and gaps in the original probe.