Security forces and emergency relief teams dug up rose gardens at the Dhaka headquarters of the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR), where the 33-hour revolt took place last week.
Anxious relatives of the missing, losing hope four days after their loved ones were last seen alive, watched as those in charge of the operation promised all of the victims would be found.
"We will look in every part of every house and dig up every garden if we have to," fire chief Sheikh Mohammad Shahjalal said. "The search will continue until the last missing officer is found. At this stage that number is 71."
Most of the 77 bodies -- many of them riddled with bullet wounds and mutilated by bayonets -- were found in shallow graves concealed under leaves and loose dirt. The BDR chief and his wife were among the dead.
Hundreds of soldiers from the BDR queued up outside the barracks on Sunday ahead of a deadline for them to return to duty after the revolt.
They told reporters they were not involved in the but had fled when the violence erupted.
With rescuers pulling one dead body after another from the ground -- a process shown live on television -- angry army officers called for those behind the attacks to be severely punished.
"We have never lost such a large number of army officers -- even during the war of liberation in 1971 or any coup after that," said retired major general Fazlul Karim, a former BDR chief, speaking of the country´s fight for independence from Pakistan.
About 250 BDR troops have been arrested but the cause of the violence was still unclear with authorities on Sunday reluctant to confirm it was BDR troops -- reportedly bitter about pay and conditions -- that led the mutiny.
"A full investigation into the gory killings will be carried out. The government has some evidence which points to the involvement of people outside of the BDR," local government minister Syed Ashraful Islam told reporters.
Some analysts warned that revenge attacks by outraged army officers and their allies could destabilise the country, which only returned to democracy two months ago after elections replaced a military-backed government.
"There´s a legacy of bloodshed in this country. If you spill the blood of others, they might seek revenge," said Ataur Rahman, a professor of politics at Dhaka University.
In a television address Saturday, the army´s second-in-command said the rank-and-file soldiers who turned on their superiors would be tracked down.
"The BDR troops who took part in these barbaric and grisly acts cannot be pardoned and will not be pardoned," said Lieutenant General M.A. Mubin.
Tensions in the BDR had simmered for months before reportedly bubbling over when officers rejected appeals for more pay, subsidised food and holidays.
The rebels only agreed to put down their arms after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina appeared on national television and threatened to tackle them by force.
The mutiny was the first major crisis faced by the premier since her landslide win on December 29 in elections hailed by international monitors for their high standard of transparency and fairness.
"The government was caught totally unaware and that´s a bit worrying," said Rahul Roy-Chaudhury, South Asian expert for the British-based think-tank International Institute for Strategic Studies.
"I don´t think the government is as yet fully in control of the military.
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