Indian Border Security Forces (BSF) shot dead two BDR personnel 1.5 km inside Bangladesh territory in Shibganj Upazila of Chapainawabganj district Thursday midnight, reports UNB.
Patrol Commander Havildar Mohammad Abdul Hannan and Lance Nayek Krishna Pada Das were shot to death when they challenged the Indian BSF on a speedboat on the river Padma.
Foreign Affairs Adviser Dr Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury in his instant reaction condemned the killing of BDR personnel, saying that such incidents are totally unacceptable.
"We consider this a serious incident. We condemn the killing of the two BDR personnel by the BSF," a foreign ministry press statement also said Friday.
The borders in the country's northern region were put on alert after the incident.
A flag meeting between BDR and BSF began at 2:10pm near Bangladesh border in Shibganj Upazila over the incident. The meeting ended at about 5:30pm.
At a hurriedly called press briefing at the BDR Headquarters Friday afternoon, Col. MA Halim, Director Operations & Training, said that the Indian BSF's trespass and attack on the BDR men could be termed aggressive mentality towards Bangladesh.
'If someone does not abide by rules it could be tantamount to aggressive mentality or disobedience to rules,' he told a questioner.
Col. Halim said there is no problem from the BDR personnel who always respect the border guidelines. He said the BSF should have restrained them in this unprovoked situation.
He said the incident shows that the Indian BSF members were either panicky or there might be a different motive behind it.
Narrating Thursday night's shootout, Col Halim said the BSF troops of Indian Thakurbari BOP entered the river Padma inside the Bangladesh territory on a speedboat and an engine-boat at about 12am.
A BDR patrol team of Raghunathpur BOP boarding a mechanised boat challenged the BSF team. Without giving their identity, BSF members sprayed bullets on the BDR personnel causing instant death of Havildar Hannan Sarker (53) of Kritunia village under Gabtali Upazila of Bogra district, and Lance Nayek Krishna Pada Das (45) of Kholabari village under Shalikha Upazila of Magura district.
Other BDR members opened counter-fire forcing the speedboat carrying BSF personnel to retreat, but the engine-boat of BSF was seized. BDR men captured an Indian national Anjam Hossain suspected to be a cattle smuggler and recovered two walkie-talkies and uniforms from the boat.
Col Halim said they have received reports from local sources that one BSF man being hit by bullets jumped into the Padma and died.
UNB Chapainawabganj correspondent reported that the two BDR personnel of the team escaped unhurt during the fire and returned with the bodies of their two colleagues.
The postmortem of the bodies was done at Chapainawabganj Sadar Hospital.
After the incident, BSF and BDR traded fire for about half an hour, but none was reported injured.
BDR Rajshahi Sector Commander Col. Iqbal visited the spot Friday morning.
A tense situation was prevailing in the border areas following the incident of firing.
According to bdnews24.com, the incident has coincided with the foreign secretary-level talks between Bangladesh and India in New Delhi, which started Thursday.
When asked how and when the probe report would reach him, Iftekhar said the home ministry would carry out the investigation and report to the foreign ministry, but he did not give any time frame.
When asked whether the incident would affect the ongoing foreign secretary-level meeting in New Delhi, the foreign adviser said: "It would not be appropriate to comment at this time."
Bangladesh foreign secretary Md Touhid Hossain, before departing for Delhi to meet his Indian counterpart, said Wednesday that the deaths of BDR personnel by BSF in 'border skirmishes' would be one of the issues on the agenda at the talks.
