The Indian Border Security Force killed two Bangladeshi youths along the Tetulia border in Panchagarh district in the early hours of Wednesday using only two bullets, Bangladesh officials said.
The officials said that they had already sent protest notes over the killings of Abdul Jalil, 24, of the Magura area, and Yasin Ali, 23, of the Tiranihat Brammatal area.
The Indian forces took away their bodies after the killings.
The latest killings took place around 18 hours before the two-day visit of Indian external affairs secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra.
Kwatra arrived on Wednesday to hand over prime minister Sheikh Hasina an invitation letter of聽 Indian prime minister Narendra Modi for her upcoming visit to New Delhi.
Responding to a question during a press briefing at his office, Bangladesh foreign minister Hasan Mahmud said on Wednesday that Dhaka would take up the issue of border killings for discussion during India鈥檚 foreign secretary鈥檚 visit.
When asked about the sudden rise in the incidents of killing of Bangladeshi nationals by BSF along the border, Hasan Mahmud said that they had been in regular consultations with New Delhi to prevent such incidents.
The latest killings took place between 12:30am and 1:00am along the Khaykhatpara border in Tetulia upazila, officials said.
The commanding officer of the Panchagarh-based 18 Border Guard Battalion, Lieutenant Colonel Md Jubayed Hasan, told 抖阴精品 that the Indian forces had informed them that they had used only two bullets that killed two Bangladeshis.
Bangladeshi officials said they could not see the bodies but received their photos.
One of the Bangladeshis sustained bullets to his head, while injuries to another could not be seen due to profound bleeding on the body, Bangladeshi officials said.
The BGB official said that BSF informed them that a group of Bangladeshis crossed the international border and attacked their personnel with machetes and sharp weapons.
鈥楾he BSF informed us that it had opened fire for self-defence,鈥� said the official.
The BGB official said that he questioned BSF officials about how two bullets used in 鈥榮elf-defence鈥� could kill two people.
The official said that the bodies would be handed over as soon as possible to their families.
The increasing shooting deaths of Bangladeshi nationals at the hands of the Indian BSF on the international border have left rights campaigners in both countries concerned and frustrated.
Human Rights Support Society, in a statement on Wednesday, protested against the killings and demanded Indian authorities bring the perpetrators to justice.
It stated that the BSF killed at least 13 Bangladeshis and injured 10 others between January 1 and May 8.
The main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party protested the killings and said that the killing was possible because the government had sold its soul to India.
The recent incidents showed that BSF bullets pierced the upper parts of the victims鈥� bodies. Neither of the countries has carried out any joint or separate investigation into the incidents yet.
At the 54th director general-level border conference in Dhaka in March, BGB director general Major General Mohammad Ashrafuzzaman Siddiqui urged his Indian counterpart to adopt 鈥榥ecessary measures鈥� to reduce border killings to zero, considering the 鈥榮ound bilateral relations鈥� between the two neighbours.
In response, the Indian BSF director general, Nitin Agrawal, has renewed his promise to bring down the number of shooting deaths or injuries of Bangladeshi civilians along their shared border to zero.
According to Bangladesh authorities, at least five Bangladeshis were killed in April and eight days in May.
Rights group Ain O Salish Kendra documented that 30 Bangladeshis were killed at the hands of the BSF in 2023, 23 in 2022, and 17 in 2021.
At least 1,236 Bangladeshis were killed and 1,145 injured in shootings by the Indian border force between 2000 and 2020, according to rights organisation Odhikar.
Bangladesh and India share a 4,100-kilometre-long international border, the fifth-longest land border in the world.
