Date:17/01/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/01/17/stories/2007011709211500.htm

National

BSF, BDR exchange fire

Special Correspondent

This follows killing of two men said to be cattle smugglers

KOLKATA: There was intermittent exchange of fire, lasting more than three hours, between jawans of the Border Security Force (BSF) and the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) across the India-Bangladesh border in West Bengal's South Dinajpur district on Tuesday morning.

The incident came in the wake of the killing of two men, stated to be Bangladeshi nationals, who were fired at by the BSF over the week-end when they challenged a group of cattle smugglers who sneaked into the Indian territory, DIG, BSF (Malda Sector), Dharam Vir Saraswat, told The Hindu over the phone.

The BSF authorities have sent a ``strong protest note'' to their BDR counterparts against the ``unprovoked'' firing on Tuesday. A flag meeting between officials of the two sides was held subsequently.

The day's exchanges began when the BSF jawans patrolling the border in the Mathurapur out-post area challenged the cattle smugglers heading towards Bangladesh and fired at them when challenged. An Indian national was injured in the firing.

Within five minutes the BDR fired nearly 100 rounds at the Indian side after which the BSF retaliated. The exchange continued till 8.30 a.m., according to Mr. Saraswat.

``We have been pointing out that the BDR is conniving with cattle-smugglers who have been trying to enter India. The heavy BDR firing on Tuesday was ample indication that they are helping the smugglers,'' he added.

``Over the past months we have been able to control smuggling of cattle into Bangladesh which has resulted in a steep hike in the prices of beef in that country. This could be why smugglers from Bangladesh are getting the support of the BDR,'' he said.