On March 25, 1971, Pakistan Army launched Operation searchlight to curb the Bengali nationalist movement in former East Pakistan. The army was aided by members of local Islamist groups and non-Bengali ethnic communities in the persecution of Bengali people. Jalladkhana was an abandoned pump house in Mirpur, Dhaka that was used as one of the killing fields. After being detained in various parts of the city, the victims were brought to this site, beheaded and thrown into a water well and several pits dug out for mass graves.[1][2]
In 1999, an excavation in the site unearthed 70 skulls and 5,392 bone fragments belonging to people of both genders and various ages, as well as fragments of clothes and ornaments belonging to the victims.[3][4]