Three rustlers had allegedly come from across the border. But later, two of them were found to be Indians. The third was a Bangladesh national.

The incident occurred near the Indo-Bangla border near Changrabandha in area of Coochbehar district.

The BSF personnel had spotted the men trying to sneak across with cattle. When confronted, they pelted the securitymen with stones. The BSF fired 18 rounds. The men died on the spot.

The Indian nationals Amal Basak (25) and Ashwini Basak (23) are residents of the Bashakpara village in India and Ainul Haq (30) was a resident of Muglibari Patgram village in Bangladesh. The bodies were handed over to the local police station.

According to BSF officials, tools for cutting the barbed wires were found near the body of the villagers shot dead.

“The incident happened around 9.15 last night. According to a complaint lodged by the BSF, a group of 20 to 30 people were trying to cross the border with cattles. Of them, three people were killed in the firing. Our SDPO has gone to the spot to look into the matter,” said Anil Kumar, SP Coochbehar.

West Bengal and Bangladesh share an almost 2000-km border, which has been witness to occasional firings disturbing the otherwise normal relations.

The border, particularly in North Bengal, has been a porous one, with the tough terrains making it difficult to complete the fencing work in progress.

The Union Home Ministry has taken several measures like construction of border fencing, flood lights and roads to enable more effective patrolling, a Parliamentary standing committee on Home Affairs noted today.