Bangladeshi border guards who staged an armed mutiny have begun laying down their arms, cabinet minister Jahangir Kabir Nanak has told reporters.

The news, which is unconfirmed, comes hours after PM Sheikh Hasina offered the troops a general amnesty.

At least five people died and a number were wounded in the mutiny, which was said to be over pay, conditions, career advancement and alleged discrimination.

The rebels battled troops sent to quell the mutiny for several hours.

A number of passersby were injured when they were caught in the crossfire.

Sheikh Hasina and senior ministers met 14 of the renegade Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) troops at her office late on Wednesday after they were escorted there from their headquarters in the capital, Dhaka.

The prime minister offered the general amnesty and urged the paramilitaries to set free officers they had taken hostage.

She said she would look into their grievances over pay and conditions.

‘Exploiting us’

The mutineers seized the military barracks in the Pilkhana area of Dhaka on Wednesday morning, reportedly taking more than 100 people hostage.

Thousands of police and troops were deployed outside the compound to try to put down the mutiny.

Exactly how many people were killed and injured in the uprising remains unclear. The fate of all the hostages has also not been confirmed.

The bodies of two senior officers seized by the renegade guards were discovered dumped in a drain outside the camp earlier on Wednesday.

It is hard to imagine how a dispute over pay could have escalated so rapidly and so violently, says the BBC’s Mark Dummett in Dhaka.

One of the mutineers told the BBC that the guards had had to take up arms to resolve problems with their officers.

“Our families might suffer because of what we have done, but they have been exploiting us for more than 200 years,” the man said.

Bangladesh mutineers ‘surrender