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 numbÍÍÍÍered 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