DHAKA (AFP) - Twenty-seven Bangladeshis have been arrested for distributing leaflets criticising the government's handling of a savage mutiny by border guards against top military officers, police said Saturday.

The men were taken into custody following the February 25-26 revolt in the capital in which more than 70 people were slain by rank-and-file guards, Masudur Rahman, a senior official of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police, told AFP.

"The men arrested are members of the Islamic group Hizb ut-Tahrir. They have been distributing leaflets that contained provocative statements which were anti-government about the mutiny," Rahman, assistant deputy police commissioner, said.

"They were arrested at 14 locations throughout the capital. They have not been charged with treason and we don't believe they helped stage the mutiny."

Hizb ut-Tahrir is a worldwide group which wants to combine all Muslim countries in a unitary Islamic state or "khilafat". It is banned in some countries but not in Bangladesh.

Most killed in the mutiny were senior army officers and the incident has exposed deep tensions between elected leaders and the military and raised fears about the survival of the government, according to political analysts.

The government said this week some border guards arrested in connection with the mutiny appeared to have links with banned Islamic group Jamayetul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB).