February 8, 2003	Saturday	Zul Hijjah 6,1423

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DHAKA, Feb 7: Indian and Bangladeshi officials held talks on Friday over their tense border, amid a bitter dispute over an Indian drive to deport Bangladeshis and the killing of a villager.

The six-hour talks between the border forces of the two countries opened in Lalmonirhat district, near the spot where 213 people were stranded for a week as both countries refused to accept them as their nationals.

New Delhi said the people were snake-charmers taken back by Dhaka on Thursday, while the latter contended they were Indians and has said nothing publicly on their fate.

In another border incident, a 35-year-old Bangladeshi villager was shot dead and another person wounded when troops from the other side opened fire on their farming land in the Chapainawabganj district, Bangladesh’s official BSS news agency said.

It said the local commander of Bangladeshi border forces protested the “unprovoked” firing. Indian border guards handed over the body of the man, Mohammad Alam, to their Bangladeshi counterparts on Friday.

The meeting was between Ibrahim Khalil, deputy director general of the Bangladesh Rifles border force, and K.C. Sharma of the Indian Border Security Force.—AFP