 Six gunmen were killed and two wounded on Friday in a shootout with security forces along Bangladesh's northeastern frontier with India, police said.
| Best as I can tell, there was no crossfire. |
They said three weapons, seven grenades and ammunition were seized from the spot following the exchange of fire in Moulvi Bazar district, 250 km (160 miles) northeast of Dhaka. "The identities of the gunmen are being investigated," police Superintendent Mokhleshur Rahman told Reuters from Kamalganj by telephone. A member of the elite force Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) was also seriously injured in the clash.
| I think that's why there was no crossfire, ordinarily the RAB guys never get hit in those. |
"We suspect them to be Indian rebels," said another policeman, who asked not to be named. Security forces later conducted search of the area and detained 15 people. Two radio sets, three cell phones and a quantity of Indian and Bangladesh currency was recovered. "We raided the forest following a tip that some miscreants were in movement in the bordering area," Lieutenant Colonel Gulzaruddin of RAB told a news briefing at Moulvi Bazar on Friday evening. He said security along Bangladesh's border with the Indian state of Tripura had been tightened after Friday's shootout. Moulvi Bazar is a Bangladeshi district just across the border from Tripura, one of the rebel-infested states in northeast India. Bangladesh arrested 23 suspected Indian rebels in a series of raid in 2004. India accuses Bangladesh of sheltering insurgents from its northeast. Bangladesh denies the charge.
| "No, no! Certainly not! They're just pious men!" |
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