Indians say ceasefire is underway in Bangladesh border

A ceasefire began today along the India-Bangladesh border after two days of fighting over a disputed area between the countries’ forces killed 19 soldiers, officials said.

Before the truce began, one Bangladeshi border guard was killed by Indian gunfire during a shooting exchange yesterday evening in the Kurgram district, the region’s chief civil administrator, Solaiman Chowdhury, said.

‘‘There has been a total ceasefire along the border in both Meghalaya and Assam states. Bangladeshi soldiers, however, kept on firing intermittently until midnight, perhaps out of panic,’’ the inspector general of India’s Border Security Force, V.K. Gaur, said today.

‘‘There has been no report of fresh firing by the Bangladeshis today.’’

He refused to comment about the Bangladeshi claim that the border guard was killed last night. If confirmed, that would bring the death toll to three Bangladeshis and 16 Indians.

Border disputes have occurred often over the years, but a high death toll is rare.

Sections of the border have been in dispute since the British carved up the subcontinent in 1947, creating India and Pakistan. The eastern portion of Pakistan later became Bangladesh.

The latest conflict over several villages began Sunday, when Bangladesh soldiers descended on Pyrdiwah, a hamlet of 700 people that Bangladesh says India has occupied for 30 years.

The Bangladeshis surrounded a camp of Indian border troops, dug trenches and occupied the homes abandoned by fleeing villagers.

The Bangladeshis withdrew Thursday after a meeting of commanders from both sides agreed to let Pyrdiwah remain in Indian hands.

Indian news reports today said the village church was damaged, homes were looted and slogans written on the walls.

Sources in Dhaka have said the Bangladeshi government did not order Sunday’s troop movement into Pyrdiwah, and that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina of Bangladesh learned about it after it had occurred.

The reports have not been confirmed, and she has made no comment.

Bangladesh Rifles officers in Dhaka have said their troops took the village only after Indians fired upon them, following Bangladesh’s protests over a road the Indians are building in the no man’s land.

Border disputes and skirmishes are usually dealt with at the local command level, said Lt. Col. Mushfiqul Rahman, a border official in the Sylhet sector.

On Wednesday, Indian troops crossed the Assam frontier in the Kurigram district 150 miles north of Dhaka, and attacked two border posts, said Rahman.

The deaths of two Bangladeshi soldiers and the 16 Indians occurred there.

Bangladeshi officials have said one Indian was killed by a civilian mob and the rest in fighting.

Gaur, however, said his men were killed after being dragged across the border by the mob and handed over to Bangladeshi troops.