20000115

BD border guards

arrest 10

Indian fishermen

DHAKA: Bangladesh border guards said on Friday they have arrested 10 Indian fishermen for crossing into the Bangladeshi side of a common river boundary.

The tit-for-tat arrests on Thursday came just hours after India had agreed to release seven Bangladeshi fishermen arrested by its Border Security Force Tuesday on similar charges.

A senior officer with the Paramilitary Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) in Dhaka said the Indian fishermen were arrested and their boats impounded in southeastern Shatkhira district.

BDR border guards arrested the Indians as they "tresspassed" across the midstream border line in Ichamati river, near where the Bangladeshi fishermen had been seized, he said.

Skirmishes between the two border forces have often strained relations between the two South Asian neighbours.ÑAFP