NEW DELHI: During excavation work for a fishpond in Rangutia, West Tripura district, labourers discovered a total of 27 mortar shells believed to date back to the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War, police reported.
“The mortar shells, estimated to be around 50 years old, were found severely damaged,” stated the officer-in-charge of the Bamutia outpost.
Local residents speculated that the shells might have been buried and forgotten by Mukti Bahini members, the Bangladesh freedom fighters, during the war.
Ananta Das, the assistant inspector general, confirmed the recovery, noting, “The shells are in a severely damaged state, making it difficult to determine their exact origins or manufacturing details due to label destruction.”
Das further indicated that weapons specialists would be required to definitively ascertain the historical background of the shells.
During the 1971 war, the Mukti Bahini utilized Tripura’s border region as a strategic base in their struggle against Pakistani military forces, playing a crucial role in Bangladesh’s fight for independence.
