Indian and Bangladeshi border guards have fired at each other for the third time in a month, officials in northeastern India said Friday. No injuries were reported. The 15 minutes of shooting came Thursday night, just hours after senior officials from both sides finished a four-day meeting in northeastern India in an attempt to defuse border tensions.Small-scale gunfire exchanges, usually sparked by disputes over unmarked border areas, occasionally break out along the 4,000-kilometer (2,500-mile) India-Bangladesh border. But even when there are injuries or even deaths, the clashes seldom lead to serious diplomatic problems.
"There was a 15-minute exchange of fire between the Indian Border Security Force and the Bangladesh Rifles in Labourputa village Thursday evening, but there were no casualties," said Gautam Ganguly, a senior government administrator in northeastern India's Assam state.
An Indian Border Security Force or BSF commander in the area said his men opened fire after a group of Bangladeshi farmers sneaked in and tried to harvest a field, ignoring soldiers' warnings. Bangladeshi troops returned fire, the commander said, speaking on condition of anonymity due to protocol.
Syed Rezaul Gani, a spokesman for the Bangladesh Rifles, confirmed the incident and a BDR commander on the border, also speaking on condition of anonymity because he is not allowed to talk to the media, said the Indian firing was unprovoked. "The Indians opened fire without provocation. We returned the fire," he said.