A Bangladeshi "cattle smuggler" was killed in BSF firing while several members of the police force were injured in an attack by rustlers in separate incidents in West Bengal, officials said.
A group of 15-20 people were trying to smuggle cattle to Bangladesh at Pannapur in Malda district and they charged towards the patrolling border guards on being challenged on Saturday, a senior BSF official said in a statement.
One of the Border Security Force personnel then fired in self defence, killing one of the attackers while others managed to flee.
The deceased was identified as Maqbool Hussain (25), a Bangladeshi, the BSF statement said.
In another incident, alleged cattle smugglers attacked the police during a raid at Mekhliganj in Cooch Behar district late on Saturday night, Superintendent of Police Anup Jaiswal told PTI.
One policeman suffered serious injuries and needed medical treatment after the attack while a few others received bruises, he said.
Jaiswal said the police arrested six of the attackers.
"Thirty-four cattle heads were seized by our team from them. The raids will continue," the SP added.
The incident triggered political controversy as the BJP blamed the ruling Trinamool Congress for it.
"While the TMC fiercely protests against the Centre's decision to extend jurisdiction of the BSF to 50 kilometres from the international border, the party's support to cattle smugglers emboldens them to attack the state police. Mekhliganj incident is the tip of the iceberg," BJP national vice-president Dilip Ghosh said.
The TMC's Dinhata MLA Udayan Guha said the incident proves that the state police is doing its job.
The Centre last year amended the BSF Act to authorise the force to undertake search, seizure and arrest within a 50 km stretch, instead of 15 km, from the international border in Punjab, West Bengal and Assam.
The state assemblies of West Bengal and Punjab have passed resolutions against the notification extending the jurisdiction of the BSF.
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