"Chuknagar Genocide Day", commemorating the country's largest and worst masacre at Chuknagar in Khulna during the Liberation War in 1971, will be observed tomorrow.

To mark the day, local administration, 'Chuknagar Ganahattya Smrity Rakkha Parisad' has chalked out different programs, including placing of wreath at the Chuknagar Srityshoudha, a memorial built in memory of Chuknagar massacres victims, and discussion tomorrow.

The eventual victory of 16 December, 1971 was the outcome of nine months of sustained successful armed resistance of the nation but the period was marked by a series of genocides and the Chuknagar Massacre is believed to be the worst one as it witnessed the slaying of at least 10,000 people in hours.

S M Babar Ali, a veteran freedom fighter and a senior BNP leader in Khulna wrote his book 'Swadhinatar Durjoy Abhijan, "Around 10am two trucks carrying Pakistan Army troops arrived at Kautala (then known as Patkhola).

The Pakistan Armies were not many in number, most possibly a platoon or so. As soon as their trucks stopped, the convoy alighted from the truck carrying light-machine guns (LMGs) and semi-automatic rifles and opened fire on the public.

Within a few hours a lively town turned into a city of death, according to the "Swadhinatar Durjoy Abhijan.”

The book also wrote, the invading Pakistani troops had taken position on two sides of the local bazaar and started spraying bullets indiscriminately.

"Many of those who evaded the bullets, lost their lives in stampedes of fleeing thousands,"