BSF says sorry for firing
The Indian Border Security Force (BSF) has regretted its firing in which a Bangladeshi was killed and four others were injured on a border in Joypurhat Sadar upazila on Friday, says a BGB official.
Following a series of flag meetings between the BGB and the BSF, the Indian force has also agreed to carry out an investigation into the unprovoked firing by the BSF men who had entered Bangladesh, said Abdur Razzak Tarafdar, commander of Joypurhat 3 BGB Battalion.
The Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) has demanded punishment to the BSF members involved in the incident of shooting the unarmed Bangladeshis.
Friday's incident took place after two Bangladeshi youths of Paschim Ramkrishnapur village had gone to a canal for fishing.
Two BSF men of Patirampur camp in Raiganj of West Bengal chased them as the canal is situated at Bhutipara border zero line.
Later, some 40 BSF troops suddenly entered the village, nearly 400 metres inside Bangladesh from zero line, and exploded three crude bombs. They then fired on the villagers, leaving five people wounded.
Of the five, Sayem Uddin, 35, died at Shaheed Ziaur Rahman Medical College Hospital in Bogra on Friday night. The four others are being treated at Joypurhat Modern Hospital.
After the incident, a company commander-level BGB-BSF flag meeting was held. Later, a battalion-level flag meeting was also held to pacify the tense situation.
As the situation remained unchanged, a sector commander-level flag meeting had also been arranged in Paschim Ramkrishnapur on Friday night.
Colonel Mohammad Khalekuzzaman, commander of Dinajpur sector BGB, and George Majiram, DIG of Raiganj sector BSF, led their respective sides.
In the meetings, the BGB strongly protested the firing incident, said BGB official Tarafdar.
The DIG of the BSF regretted the incident and assured his Bangladeshi counterpart of carrying out an investigation. If any BSF man was found guilty, he would be punished, the BSF official added.
Meanwhile, Sayem was buried in his village yesterday. A large number of BGB men were deployed in the village to avoid any untoward incident.
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