Around 25 Bangladeshi cattle smugglers along the India-Bangladesh border attacked a BSF jawan with bombs and injured the jawan on border duty. As per reports, the smugglers had entered 200 metres into the Indian side of the border. The smugglers were also helped by the locals, the BSF said.

According to the reports, BSF constable Anisur Rehman suffered pellet injuries to his lungs, liver and stomach from two country-made bombs thrown at him. The incident took place near the Angrail border post near Bangaon in the North 24 Parganas district at about 3:30 am.

The BSF belonging to 64 Batallion intercepted approximately 25 smugglers and challenged them. The smugglers were armed with bombs, dahs (cleaver-shaped weapon), axes, bamboo sticks among others. They encircled the jawan and threw two country-made bombs on him. He was evacuated to the government hospital in Bangaon where his right hand was amputated.

“The jawan has suffered grievous injuries and he fired a round from his pump action gun in self-defence before he fell unconscious. Reinforcement troops controlled the situation. The smugglers escaped to the other side as it was pitch dark and the area is marked with heavy vegetation and tall grass growth,” a senior official said.

The Border Security Force (BSF) has now issued an alert along the India-Bangladesh border in the south Bengal area. It has also registered a “strong protest” with the Border Guards Bangladesh (BGB) to rein in the criminals on their side.

In the wake of the attack, the BSF has directed its troops in the south Bengal frontier area “to adopt an aggressive posture against trans-border criminals and thwart their sinister designs. Such incidents of attacks on BSF troops are taking place quite often,” the force said.

On Wednesday, the border guarding force had thwarted an attack by about 200 Bangladeshi cattle smugglers and seized 107 buffaloes along the Indo-Bangla border in Murshidabad district of the state.