DHAKA, 18 April 2005 — Bangladeshi and Indian border guards exchanged fire on their frontier killing four people, sources said yesterday.
The incident took place when top officials from both the sides were wrapping up a meeting in Dhaka, security officials said.
The victims of Saturday’s gunbattle included two soldiers of India’s Border Security Force (BSF) and two Bangladeshi villagers, officials on both sides said.
“The bodies of the BSF soldiers including an officer clad in civil dress were lying in Bangladesh territory, some 300 yards from the border line,” said an official of the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) border force.
“We are investigating why they had intruded into our territory,” he said. The BSF said Bangladeshi troops opened fire without provocation.
“BDR opened fire on a BSF unit which went up to the border to inquire about the whereabouts of a villager Bangladeshis kidnapped on Saturday afternoon,” BSF Sector Commander Mritunjoy Kumar said in Agartala, the capital of the eastern Indian state of Tripura.
“Our assistant commandant Jeevan Kumar was killed and two personnel were critically hurt,” he said. Officials said yesterday, body of Jeevan Kumar, 35, was handed over to Mrityunjoy at a flag meeting at the Akhaura frontier late Saturday.
Commanding Officer of 7 Rifles Battalion Lt. Col. Syed Quamruzzaman handed the body of Jeevan to Mrityunjoy at the late-night meeting between the two forces.
Body of BSF constable K.K. Surendra was also handed over to the Indian side.
Late Saturday, the chiefs of the BSF and the BDR concluded a five-day meeting in Dhaka without any agreement on ending disputes over India fencing the border. Both countries have also accused each other of harboring rebels and criminals. “The meeting ended inconclusively,” said an official. The two sides agreed to meet again in New Delhi, the Indian capital, in about six months.
“The mood was certainly not upbeat,” said the official, who asked not to be named.
India is building the fence along its 4,000 km border with Bangladesh, saying it is fed up with smugglers and rebels crossing the frontier.
Bangladesh does not oppose the Indian fencing project, but objects when the fence is erected too close to the zero line.
“We cannot accept fencing within 150 yards from the zero line,” said BDR chief Maj. Gen. Jahangir Alam Chowdhury.
Bangladesh and Indian border forces also exchanged fire over the disputed fence last month. Though no casualties were reported by either side at the time, the exchange triggered a series of reconciliatory meeting between the two forces.
Both sides alleged dozens of their civilians get killed at the border — shot by troops or by thugs. Sixteen Indian and three Bangladeshi soldiers were killed in 2001 in the bloodiest border clash.
Bangladesh Arrests French Filmmaker
Bangladesh border security forces arrested a French documentary filmmaker after he strayed into the country from India without a proper visa, police said yesterday.
Arnaud Mandagaran, the maker of a documentary film, “India: Turmoils of the Century”, was arrested Friday after crossing into Bangladesh from India and transferred to Dhaka for questioning, said police spokesman Abdul Kader Beg.
He is being held for seven days pending a judicial review. Mandagaran identified himself as a filmmaker to police, Beg said.
