| শিরোনাম | সূত্র | তারিখ |
| ১৪৬। হত্যা এবং প্রতিরোধের যুদ্ধ একই সাথে চলছে | টেলিগ্রাফ | ১৬ এপ্রিল, ১৯৭১ |
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH, APRIL 16, 1971
SLAUGHTER GOES ON AS E. PAKISTAN FIGHTS FOR LIFE
By David Loshak in Sylhet, East Pakistan
Savage fighting for control of this key town, the capital of East Pakistan's most remote and isolated district, yesterday reached a crucial stage as central Government forces struggled to wrest control from the “Bangladesh liberation army."
he West Pakistan Army is making a determined effort to wide out resistance before the onset of the monsoon in two weeks' time, but it is meeting stiff opposition, and both sides have suffered severe losses
Last night the West Pakistanis belonging to the 31st Punjab Regiment seemed to have the upper hand, but persistent mortaring, which I observed for the second day running made it clear that the battle was far from over.
Members of the “Mukti Fouz,” the untrained and barely organized “liberation army" of East Pakistan, were fighting a last-ditch stand for the town, now a ruined, empty shell. They 'have killed about 200 of the Punjab unit's 800 complement.
Their own losses have been far heavier, but Bengalis in their thousands are continuing the fight and constantly replacing the dead I found their morale consistently high despite their desperate situation and there is no doubt of their readiness to fight to the death.
Control of countryside
The Mukti Fouz now control almost the entire countryside. They have confined the Army to the area around Salutigar Airport, five miles north of Sylhet, after capturing Khadimnagar cantonment to the east of the town.
The victory brought the Mukti Fouz urgently-needed supplies of arms and ammunition. I reached Khadimnagar yesterday after a four-day journey through the hills and jungles of Assam in India, and of northern Sylhet Province, then down through fertile plain and tea gardens and paddy fields.
Despite West Pakistani claims, the Indian border is closed, and crossing into Bangladesh is forbidden. In blinding, saturating rain Islipped across the frontier at a point about 40 miles north-west of Sylhet.
The route lay first down winding trails through forests and undergrowth, beneath trees heavy with ripening jackfruit and laced with green cordons of tropical weeds,
