A man was killed and four others were injured as the Indian Border Security Force (BSF) opened fire on some inhabitants of a Bangladeshi village along a border in Joypurhat Sadar upazila yesterday.
The dead is Mohammad Sayem, 35, son of Abdul Barik of Dugor village. The wounded are Porimal Mardi, 30, Faruk Hossain, 28, Abu Zafar Bidyut, 20, and Nirmal Chandra, 35, of the same village.
The injured were taken to Joypurhat Modern Hospital. Doctors referred Sayem, who was critically injured, to Shaheed Ziaur Rahman Medical College Hospital in Bogra. Sayem died there later.
Locals said two youths of Dugor village went to a canal for fishing around 11:30am. The BSF members of Patirampur camp in Malda of West Bengal chased them as the canal was situated at zero line of Bhutipara border. The youths came back to their village.
Later, some 30 to 35 BSF men suddenly entered Dugor village, nearly 400 metres inside Bangladesh, around 1:00pm and exploded three crude bombs, said locals.
Later, the BSF troops opened fire on the villagers and returned to India. Five people were wounded in the incident, locals added.
The BSF members fired 9-10 bullets, said injured Porimal Mardi.
The BGB had already lodged a strong protest for the incident with their Indian counterpart, said Abdur Razzak Tarafdar, commander of Joypurhat 3 BGB Battalion.
Following the incident, a flag meeting between sector commanders of Dinajpur Border Guard Bangladesh and Malda BSF was being held near the border as of 9:45pm.
Abdur Rahim, deputy commissioner of Joypurhat, and Mollah Nazrul Islam, superintendent of Joypurhat police, visited the wounded at Joypurhat Modern Hospital.
Source: The Daily Star
