The Hindu : Front Page : 3 killed in BDR firing

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Mar 29, 2006

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3 killed in BDR firing

Special Correspondent

Flag meeting held, normality restored

Kolkata: Three persons, two of them said to be Indian nationals, were killed when Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) personnel opened fire at workers engaged in road repair work near the border village of Khalasipara in the Kuchlibari area of West Bengal's Cooch Behar district on Tuesday afternoon.

The firing, which started around 1.20 p.m. lasted nearly 20 minutes in which about 30 rounds of ammunition were used, Border Security Force (BSF) Inspector General (North Bengal) Sriram Tewari told The Hindu over telephone from Siliguri in the evening.

A flag meeting was held between officials of the BSF and the BDR later in the day and normality was restored, he said. Local BSF authorities have lodged a protest against the firing with the local Sector-Commander of the BDR.

According to Mr. Tewari, the villagers were repairing the road near the main pillar no. 806 located outside 150 yards of the zero line on the Indian side of the border when the BDR authorities objected. "Work was stopped immediately despite which the BDR resorted to firing," he said. Encroachment by either side within that distance off the zero line violates the bi-lateral border agreement, he said.

While one victim of the firing died in a hospital in Jalpaiguri, the bodies of the other two had been taken away by the BDR authorities.

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