Two Bangladeshi smugglers were killed early Friday as the Border Security Force (BSF) personnel opened fire while they tried to smuggle cattle heads by establishing an improvised bamboo cantilever through the Indo-Bangladesh border in West Bengal’s Cooch Behar district, the force said.
The incident took place around 3 am.
One BSF troop was also injured in the attack by miscreants but his condition is stable and he has been evacuated to hospital.
The BSF in a statement said that the ‘from Bangladesh side ventured into Indian territory and tried to smuggle cattle heads by establishing improvised bamboo cantilever’.
‘BSF domination ahead of fence warned them to go back, but miscreants didn’t pay heed to BSF warning,’ said the statement.
It said that the BSF troops then utilised non-lethal munition to deter the miscreants, but they attacked BSF troops with iron dah and sticks.
Sensing an imminent threat to the life, the statement mentioned, BSF party fired in air towards miscreants.
‘Later on during search, dead bodies of two unknown miscreants were found between the border fence and International Boundary.’
The BSF is mandated to guard the 4,096 km long India-Bangladesh border and is responsible to stop smuggling as well as other illegal activities.