Indian troops fired on hundreds of Bangladeshi construction workers and soldiers on the frontier on Friday, triggering a gun battle lasting many hours between border guards from both sides, officials said according to Reuters. Bangladeshi officers said no one was wounded on their patch. There was no immediate word of any casualties on the Indian side but Indian officers said people in border villages had been evacuated to safer places. The gunbattle lasted for more than five hours. By the evening, the border was quiet. "There is no more exchange now, but situation is tense. Both sides have some defensive reinforcement," said an officer of Bangladesh Rifles border force. The fighting came a day after New Delhi offered to help Dhaka hunt for Islamist militants who set off hundreds of crude bombs across Bangladesh, killing two people and wounding more than 100. Normally friendly relations between India and Bangladesh have often been marred by border skirmishes, especially after New Delhi began fencing off the frontier to stop illegal migrants and militants. Friday's fighting began as Indian troops opened fire after Bangladesh ignored a request to stop disputed construction work on their side of the border, along a river that flows into Bangladeshi territory from India, another BSF officer said. --more 1811 Local Time 1511 GMT
