Bangladesh-India stop border fire

Indian guards patrolling the Bangladesh border

Indian and Bangladeshi border guards have halted a fire fight in a dispute over construction work to strengthen the banks of a common river.

A girl was killed and two villagers injured in the fighting which broke out on Friday, an Indian official said.

Indian border guards said they opened fire in protest at the construction of an embankment at the Mahananda River.

Bangladesh said the Indians were trying to divert attention from their own construction work.

The fighting ceased on Friday evening, before erupting again on Saturday morning.

Several villages were evacuated on both sides of the border.

However, a spokesman for India's Border Security Force (BSF) Ashwini Agarwal told the BBC that both sides have now agreed to halt the firing.

"We are trying for a flag meeting but Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) is yet to respond," he said.

Bangladeshi border guard officials have, however, alleged that their Indian counterparts had not responded to their efforts to discuss the embankment dispute.

A 10-year-old girl was killed at Muchia and two other Indian villagers injured in the firing, an Indian official said.

There were no immediate reports of any casualties on the Bangladeshi side.

Disputed area

Indian troops opened fire after more than 300 Bangladeshi construction workers began work on a structure on the Mahananda river on Friday, Indian officials said.

The Mahananda separates the Malda district of India's West Bengal state from the Rajshahi region in Bangladesh.

Indian officials argue that the construction of a concrete embankment by Bangladesh will increase erosion on the Indian side and that it violates a 1975 border agreement between the two countries.

They say the question of reinforcing the river bank is still under discussion by the Joint Rivers Commission.

Officials of the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) said the Indian firing was totally unprovoked.

They say the Indian soldiers started firing 4km (2.4 miles) from where they were building a similar structure on the Indian side of the river.

"It was a military tactic to divert our attention from what was going on along the river," a BDR official told the BBC.

Both sides assert they are undertaking construction outside of the "no-build zone" 150m (492ft) either side of the border.

Bangladesh and India enjoy generally friendly relations but tensions have increased since India began fencing off its border to keep out what it describes as illegal immigrants and "cross-border insurgents".

Several skirmishes have been reported between the two border forces during the past year.