Itanagar, Feb 1: A 24-years-old youth was killed on Monday after the BSF troopers fired from their non-lethal weapon from a close range in a village along the India-Bangladesh border in Tripura, police said.

A senior police official said that Jasim Mia, a college student, was killed on the spot after the Border Security Force jawans suspecting him as cattle smuggler fired from very close range from their non-lethal weapon.

The incident occurred early morning on Monday at the bordering Debipur village under Belonia sub-division in southern Tripura.

A BSF official said that their troopers fired in self defence as the man attacked the BSF jawans with a sharp cutting weapon and they yet to get the full details of the incident.

Senior BSF officials have rushed to the spot and are probing the occurrence.

The villagers and the victim’s family members said that the youth had nothing to do with cattle smuggling as Jasim Mia was tending his cows in the field along their homes, which are not far away from the international border.

Serious tension and protests are prevailing in the border village after the incident. Senior police officials with reinforcement have rushed to the spot, 135 km south of Agartala.

In recent years the BSF has been using non-lethal weapons instead of traditional arms and fired rubber bullets or rubber buckshot or soft polymer rounds or plastic bullets in dealing with border crimes.

A BSF official said that out of the 856 km Tripura’s international border with Bangladesh, over 95 percent of the frontiers are already fenced and due to the objections raised by the Border Guards Bangladesh, the remaining portions are yet to be fenced.

“However, we are trying to complete the fencing work within the next few months,” the official said.