Sheikh Mujibur Rehman’s Liberation Army to-day [March 29] all but took over the capital city of Dacca after five days of bloody fighting in East Pakistan, according to Free Bangla Radio. Fighting was on to-night [March 29] for the airport and cantonment areas of the city after the Dacca radio station once again went back into the hands of Sheikh’s men, the radio claimed. Bangla Desh freedom-fighters were to-day in complete control of two of the three Army cantonments in the land, the radio said. These were identified as the Jessore and Comilla cantonments. Both had been seized from the Pakistani Amy, it said. For the first time to-day, Martial Law authorities, now under a new administrator, Lt. Gen. Irshad Ali Khan, dropped paratroopers at several places to capture five other transmitters operated by the Bangla Radio, reports said. Fighting unparalleled in its bitterness and savage brutality was to-night [March 29] raging in Dacca, according to reliable reports reaching Shillong. In a last ditch bid to stem the tide of nationalism the West Pakistani forces pressed into service sabre jets, tanks and heavy artillery against the ill-equipped liberation army. Bitter fighting was also going on in Khulna, Sylhet and Rangpur.
