At least 31 Bangladeshis were reportedly killed and 14 others injured by the Indian Border Security Forces (BSF) in the first six months of 2004, reported the New Nation on Monday.

According to a local rights group Odhikar (rights), 46 people were also abducted in the same period ending on June 30 in frontier areas, as the two countries share a 4,500-kilometer-long mostly open border.

Some armed Indian civilians were also allegedly involved in the cross-border firings and incidents of attacks on border villages inside Bangladesh in connections with cattle lifting, crop looting,dacoity and other related crimes.

The group further pointed out such attacks and killings are continuing and even on the rise despite regular annual meetings between Directors General of both BSF and their Bangladeshi counterpart Bangladesh Rifles (BDR).

In many cases, innocent villagers, fishermen and workers from Bangladeshi villages were reportedly fired on while they were engaged in daily work including plowing land, harvesting crops, tending cattle, fishing or passing near no men's land along the border.

Source: Xinhua