46th Independent Infantry Brigade is an independent brigade formation of Bangladesh Army. It is located in Dhaka Cantonment directly under the command of the Army Headquarters (AHQ).[2] The brigade is also known as the Dhaka Brigade.[3]
This brigade was created immediately after the liberation war of Bangladesh and the first Brigade Commander was Lt. Col. (later Maj. Gen.) K. M. Shafiullah.
46th Independent Infantry Brigade, under the command of Colonel Shafaat Jamil, supported Major General's Khaled Mosharraf coup on 3 November 1975. Captain Hafiz of the brigade was charged with detaining Major General Ziaur Rahman.[4] The government of Bangladesh was criticized for not deploying the brigade to stop the Bangladesh Rifles mutiny in 2009.[5]
The brigade was deployed during the Holey Artisan attack. The operation, Operation Thunderbolt, was led by the commander of the brigade, Mujibur Rahman. Nearly 12 hours after the attack, the operation was declared over by brigadier Rahman. The operation ended with rescue of 13 hostages and 5 terrorists were killed while the 6th one was captured.[6][7][8][9]