The gunfight that started at 10:40pm Wednesday night left at least 16 people including six BDR men and 10 civilians wounded.

Around 15,000 inhabitants of 15 villages near the border left their homes for safer places yesterday.

Troubles began around 10:40pm on Wednesday as the BSF started firing on BDR positions at Uttarkul and Amolshid borders without any provocation, BDR officials said. The BSF used conventional artillery to cause damage way inside Bangladesh territory.

A top official of BDR requesting not to be named said the BSF dug trenches along the border in the last few days and amassed troops. They are now reinforcing troops and BDR too is making counter reinforcements.

Three of the villagers who were injured in the gunfight were admitted to Sylhet MAG Osmani Medical College Hospital while seven others received first aid at Zakiganj Upazila Health Complex.

Lt Colonel Abu Tasnim, 38 Battalion Commander of BDR told The Daily Star six BDR men sustained minor injuries from mortar splinters close to Shitalong Shah's shrine near Amolshid border, .

Sector Commander of BDR Colonel Abul Hossain told The Daily Star that the situation is now calm but troops on both sides of the border are on high alert. The BSF fired, machinegun bullets, mortar shells and other artilleries without any provocation, he added.

A sector-commander-level meeting between the BDR and BSF on August 13 will try to resolve the issue, Colonel Hossain said. The deputy inspector general of BSF, Shillong had sent a letter to the sector commander of BDR earlier requesting the meeting to be held.

Meanwhile, two Indian nationals, Milon and Abdur Rashid, were captured at Amolshid and Salehpur yesterday on suspicion of spying for India. They were brought to the BDR sector headquarters for interrogation. A few mobile phone numbers of Indians and documents were recovered from their possession.

A tense situation prevailed in the villages between Uttarkul and Amolshid border outposts since June 23 when BDR men foiled BSF's attempt to 'adversely possess some farmland' near the border, a top BDR official said.

He said the land falls in the criteria of article-3 of the land boundary agreement signed between Bangladesh and India in 1974. The agreement allows both the countries use the lands under their control, he added.

On June 23, BSF crossed the river in boats and tried to occupy the farmland. BSF and BDR men also traded around 100 bullets that day. The 256-acre land had been under Bangladesh's control since 1947.

The BSF again made an attempt on June 28 to occupy the land. Inhabitants of the surrounding area had to leave their homesteads after BSF and BDR exchanged over 1,800 bullets that day.

A battalion commander level flag meeting between BDR and BSF at India's Harinagar camp on July 4 decided that neither parties would show aggression concerning the disputed territory and they would work to bring back normalcy in the area. They had also agreed to withdraw additional troops and ammunition supplies.

During the gun battle, a septuagenarian died of heart attack on Wednesday midnight. Khalil Uddin, 70, could not be buried in his village due to the tensed situation prevailing there. His family members buried him at Anandapur, four kilometres off Amolshid around 2:00pm yesterday.

No class was held in any of the educational institutions in the area and no call for prayers [Ajan] were heard yesterday.