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DHAKA (Reuters) - Mutinous members of a Bangladesh paramilitary unit accepted an amnesty offered by the government, but refused to hand their weapons to the army after fighting over a pay dispute killed at least five people on Wednesday.

The government deployed soldiers to the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) complex to quell the mutiny after gunfire broke out in the morning when enlisted men met officers over a pay and command row.

"We will not surrender to the army and we will not lay down weapons until they withdraw," said one BDR officer at his headquarters via a loudspeaker.

The mutineers agreed to lay down their arms but did not specify who they would hand their weapons over to.

Doctors at a Dhaka hospital said they had received the bodies of five people and had treated 15 others wounded in the clashes that sent civilians fleeing and led to stand-off with troops and police. One BDR mutineer said 15 people were killed.

Bangladesh, an impoverished South Asian country of more than 140 million, has experienced several successful and failed military coups in its history but Wednesday's fighting did not appear to be politically motivated.

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, whose party won elections in December to take over from a military-backed interim government, met some of the BDR mutineers later on Wednesday in a bid to end the stand-off.

Government minister Jahangir Kabir Nanak said Hasina made the offer of an amnesty for those involved during an hour-long meeting at her residence. One BDR officer said an agreement to surrender weapons was struck after assurances by Hasina to fulfil the group's demands.

One official confirmed the mutineers had yet to surrender. "Efforts are still continuing to persuade the rebels to give up," the official, who did not want to be named, told reporters.

Commercial NTV television showed several bodies lying on the ground near the BDR complex and said as many as 15 people, mostly soldiers, may have been killed. There was no official confirmation of that number.

Police said they had recovered the bodies of two BDR troops from a canal near the unit's headquarters, although it was not clear how they died.

CIVILIANS HIT

The shooting spilled over into the streets earlier on Wednesday, killing three civilians and wounding several others by stray bullets, witnesses said. Flames rose from the BDR complex and big blasts were heard.

Firing had subsided by late afternoon but resumed intermittently in the night, televisions reported. The streets around the complex were deserted, witnesses said.

Around 2,000 BDR soldiers are usually stationed in the headquarters but it was not known how many joined in the fighting. About 500 army troops and hundreds of police and other security forces were deployed to face off the mutineers.

A commercial television station showed one masked rebel shouting from a window in the besieged complex. "We want BDR to be commanded by themselves, not by the army," the rebel shouted.

Bangladesh's powerful army supplies officers to command the paramilitary BDR troops.

The BDR, whose main duty is guarding the country's borders, are often called in to back up the army and police in meeting other defence and security requirements.

The mutiny broke out even though Hasina met senior BDR officers at an annual parade on Tuesday and assured them her government would do its best to modernise the paramilitary and reward good performers.