Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh’s prime minister, has said there is a risk of further attacks “to foil the country’s democracy”, following a mutiny by paramilitary troops that left more than 70 officers dead.

In comments on Wednesday, Hasina said that her own safety was also at risk, describing last week’s revolt by the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) border guards as “condemnable”.

Hasina said the 33-hour mutiny was part of a wider plot to destabilise the country.

“Conspiracies against Bangladesh are not over yet … the game is still on,” she said at a seminar speech later published on an online newspaper.

Arrests

About 9,000 border guards rose up against their superiors last Wednesday, with demands for better pay and work conditions.

On Tuesday, security forces arrested Touhidul Alam, who was assistant director of the BDR at the time of the revolt, on suspicion of organising the mutiny.

Alam, who led negotiations with Hasina that helped end the uprising, was arrested along with four other suspected mutineers in Dhaka, the capital.

Soldiers are still on the hunt for more than 1,000 BDR guards believed to be involved in the two-day mutiny.

The police have charged them with murder, arson and hostage-taking.

Coup fears

The large scale of the revolt has led to speculation that it was meant to destabilise the freshly elected government, raising fears over a possible coup in Bangladesh.

The mutiny ended after Hasina met a group of the border guard troops and threatened to put down their revolt by force.

She had earlier offered the mutineers an amnesty, but retracted the offer after it became known that the guards had resorted to large-scale killings of their seniors.

After the premier launched an investigation into the attacks, the army said on Tuesday that it was conducting its own independent probe, a move analysts say underlines tensions between the two.

The revolt came two months after Hasina’s Awami League won national elections, which themselves followed about two years of military rule.

Bangladesh PM fears more attacks