Bangladesh Army Type 59 tank in a tactical field exercise
Courtesy James Dunn

In addition to the three service branches, Bangladesh supports an internal security establishment that numbered approximately 55,000 personnel in mid-1988. These formal auxiliaries included two paramilitary forces--the 30,000-member Bangladesh Rifles and the 20,000-member Ansars--and a 5,000-member specialized police unit known as the Armed Police. Although large--there were 10 million members in 1988--a fourth paramilitary/police element, the Village Defence Party, played a marginal internal security role.

Data as of September 1988

NOTE: The information regarding Bangladesh on this page is re-published from The Library of Congress Country Studies and the CIA World Factbook. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Bangladesh AUXILIARY FORCES information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Bangladesh AUXILIARY FORCES should be addressed to the Library of Congress and the CIA.