Dhaka Orders Probe Into Border Clash

Imran Rahman

Arab News

DHAKA, 21 April 2005 — The government of Bangladesh ordered an inquiry into weekend skirmish with Indian border at its frontier in which an Indian border guard and a 10-year-old Bangladeshi girl were killed, sources said yesterday.

Bangladesh and India have accused each other of provoking the violence in Brahmanbaria district, 80 km east of Dhaka. While Bangladeshi officials have said a gun battle was sparked when Indians intruded onto their territory, officials in India said its border guards were abducted and dragged into Bangladeshi territory.

Four senior government officials will conduct the probe, the Home Ministry said in a statement. It did not provide further details.

On Tuesday, Junior Home Minister Lutfuzzaman Babar called his Indian counterpart, Sri Prakash Jaiswal, to try to defuse tensions caused by the clash, United News of Bangladesh said.

The two officials discussed the need to restore peace along the border, it said.

Tension along the India-Bangladesh frontier has already been defused through talks, Bangladesh’s foreign minister said yesterday.