There is serious concern at the continued deliberate killings of unarmed civilians by the paramilitary Bangladesh Rifles (BDR). There have been several incidents in which a dozen people have died and scores of others have been injured. The latest report alleges that on 23 April 1993 the personnel of the BDR’s 6th Battalion raided the village of Kolar Haat in the Naogaon area, and tried to take away their cattle. When the villages resisted the BDR opened fire at the unarmed crowd, killing the four men named above and injuring at least 8 others. This follows a pattern where BDR personnel raid remote village markets under the pretext of recovering smuggled cattle. In reality they steal the villagers’ cattle and sell them, firing on the villagers if they resist.
