4 injured as SSB personnel open fire on Nepali soil

DHARAN, Nov 25: Kameshor Yadav, 58, of Haripur-7 in Sunsari district had gone to tend to his buffalos early on Wednesday morning. Upon hearing the sound of gunfire coming from the direction of his home around 6 a.m. he rushed back immediately only to find that his only son was being rushed to hospital.

Ashok Yadav, 28, received a bullet injury in the right side of his abdomen after the Sima Suraksha Bal (SSB), the Indian border security force, entered Nepal and opened fire. Although the injury is serious, Ashok is now out of danger following emergency surgery by doctors at B.P Koirala Institute of Health Sciences to extract the bullet.Besides him, three brothers -- Naresh Yadav, 18, Saroj Yadav, 28, and Manoj Yadav -- were also injured in the firing. Naresh received a bullet in his right hip although his condition is said to be normal now. Saroj and Manoj are also in a normal condition.

According to eyewitnesses, the victims were huddled around a fire to keep themselves warm in the cold weather when a group of six SSB personnel came towards them and enquired about some chemical fertilizer smugglers on the run. A dispute broke out after they expressed their ignorance about any smugglers.

"The SSB personnel tried to beat us up when we couldn't answer their question. That angered us. All of them then opened fire at once and without any warning," said the injured Saroj. "People from India smuggle fertilizer into our country and charge us a high price for it. And then the SSB comes here and beats us up instead of taking action against the culprits", he added, venting his outrage over the incident.

According to District Administration Office (DAO) Sunsari, the site of the incident lies some 100 meters north of Das Gaja (No Man's Land) on the Nepal side.

"We have taken this incident very seriously. I was in telephone contact with the district magistrate across the border, Ram Chandra. He assured us that they will investigate the incident," informed Chief District Officer (CDO) Ravi Raj Pant. Pant also visited the incident site along with some security personnel to collect more information.

The SSB commander, however, told a different story and attempted to hide the truth, said CDO Pant. "We were told that the incident happened while examining goods at the border and they opened fire in defense after the victims started getting aggressive," he informed, adding that the Nepali side will leave no stone unturned to investigate the incident.

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