3 suspected cattle smugglers killed in accidental crude bomb blast in Murshidabad

Three suspected cattle smugglers were killed in an accidental blast of a crude bomb used by them in West Bengal's Murshidabad district on Monday, BSF sources said.

Smugglers usually tie a socket bomb to an animal's neck to scare off BSF jawans when they make a bid to arrest smuggling across the Indo-Bangla border, officials said.

Another suspected smuggler was injured when they were preparing cattle heads for crossing the border in Farzipara village, which is "notorious" for smuggling to Bangladesh, they said.

The injured has been admitted to a government hospital.

"The village is notorious for cattle smuggling. We suspect that those who died too were cattle smugglers. They were preparing the cattle for cross-border smuggling. They usually tie socket bombs around animals' necks so that if BSF get hold of these the bombs go off killing our jawan," a senior BSF official said.