News: Toll rises to six in Bangladesh-India border shootout

[Saif Ahmed]

AFP <C-...@clari.net> wrote in message
news:Qbangladesh-india...@clari.net...
>
> DHAKA, April 20 (AFP) - Six Bangladeshis including a border
> guard were killed and at least 15 injured in a frontier shootout
> with Indian troops in western Bangladesh, officials said Tuesday.
> Bangladesh strong protested to India at the "unprovoked attack,"
> saying it was unexpected from a friendly neighbour.
> Monday's day-long exchange of fire ended late at night,
> officials said. There was no further firing Tuesday but the frontier
> was tense, they said.
> The exchange of fire between India's Border Security Force (BSF)
> and the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) began Monday after the BSF shot dead
> a local resident near the Jamalpur frontier post in Kushtia district
> "without provocation," officials quoted by the BSS news agency
> said.
> Kushtia, which borders India's West Bengal state, is 130
> kilometers (82 Miles) west of the capital Dhaka.
> The Indian side used machine guns and mortars among other
> weapons, BDR officials said, adding that a BDR trooper and five
> Bangladeshi villagers were killed.
> There could be two to four casualties among the Indian troops,
> they said.
> "There were several such incidents of unprovoked firing by the
> BSF in the past which are not fair or expected in a friendly
> bilateral relation," one home ministry official told AFP, adding
> that an official protest had been sent.
> Reports said BSF guards shot dead the villager near a frontier
> post and tried to take away his body, prompting angry protests by
> local residents. The fighting escalated after a Bangladeshi unit
> rushed to the scene and returned fire.
> "Despite tensions there was no further exchange of fire here
> today. We are waiting for a offer for talks from BSF side," Colonel
> O.F.M. Nizamuddin told AFP by telephone from his base in Kushtia.
> A Bangladeshi soldier and at least 14 civilians were wounded and
> three were in critical condition at a local hospital, he said.
> Reports said the BDR had sent reinforcements to the area after
> the shootout spread to several nearby border posts. An official
> statement was expected later Tuesday.
> In the last such major incident late last month, three
> Bangladeshis were killed by BSF fire in the nearby frontier district
> of Noagaon.
> There are frequent shootouts along the 4,126 km (2,578 mile)
> border with India.
> Bangladesh Rifles officials in Dhaka said at least 61
> Bangladeshis had been killed in 233 shootouts with India since 1996,
> with Monday's incident being the most serious of its type.
> They blame growing smuggling, illegal border crossing and
> seasonal harvesting of disputed land along the frontier as the main
> reasons.
> At a regular meeting in New Delhi last month, heads of the two
> border forces agreed to cooperate in reducing tension and curbing
> smuggling and other violations.
>
>