DHAKA, 24 April 2005 — Tension was mounting along Bangladesh’s western border with India after two Bangladeshi civilians were killed yesterday in a shooting incident between the border guards of the two neighbors, officials said.
Bangladesh said Indian troops shot dead two Bangladeshi men who crossed the border yesterday, despite requests not to kill unarmed civilians who trespassed the frontier.
A Bangladeshi border guard said the Indian Border Security Force (BSF) opened fire when the men walked into Hariharpur village near the western town of Jessore.
The latest flare-up of border shooting created panic in frontier villages in Bangladesh’s western Jhenidah district as both sides moved heavy guns to the border and built bunkers, local police said.
Bangladeshi officials said the civilians were shot inside Bangladeshi territory. But an Indian border policeman said the troops had good reason to fire at the intruders.
“A bunch of miscreants from Bangladesh breached a fence by cutting more than 12 stands of barbed wire, and two of them were able to intrude into India,” S.K. Mitra, a BSF deputy inspector general, said.
Mitra said their bodies would be handed over to Bangladesh today.
The two border forces stepped back from the edge of a bloody skirmish on April 16 after Bangladeshi Home Minister Lutfuzzaman Babar telephoned to express regrets to his Indian counterpart Shivraj Patil over the death of BSF Company Commander Jeevan Kumar.
The death of the BSF officer in a shootout at Bangladesh’s eastern Akhaura border with India triggered tension among border forces and residents on both sides. A young Bangladeshi girl was also killed on the border in the shooting incident.
‘Bangladesh Violated Indian Airspace’
India yesterday accused Bangladesh of violating the country’s airspace, besides reinforcing troops, building trenches and stockpiling heavy weapons along the international border.
A BSF statement in the northeastern city of Agartala said a Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) helicopter entered the Indian airspace along the northeastern state of Tripura on Friday.
“BDR violated the Indian airspace with their helicopter seen flying over Chotakhil in Sabroom subdivision of Tripura as also in Magrum and Beltoli areas along the international border,” the statement said. India has lodged a strong protest with Dhaka and cautioned its troops not to indulge in “adventurism”. — Additional input from IANS.
