India claims no Nepali nationals injured by Indian border force bullets

India has claimed that no Nepali nationals were injured in firing by the Indian border force in the Nepal's Terai region on Wednesday.

In a press statement on Wednesday evening, the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu said that news reports regarding firing by Seema Suraksha Bal (SSB) are inaccurate.

Earlier, Nepali government officials said that four Nepali nationals were injured when the armed Indian border force opened fire Wednesday morning in Sunsari district of Nepal bordering India.

Nepal's Home Ministry Spokesman Laxmi Prasad Dhakal told Xinhua that a group of Indian border force personnel entered the Nepali territory and opened fire against the four Nepali nationals.

Witnesses of the incident and the victims also told the Nepali government officials that the Indian border force entered into the place of Haripur Village Development Committee and opened fire at the locals. The injured victims are now receiving treatment at local hospitals.

Contrarily, the Indian Embassy in its statement claimed that the Indian border force didn't enter the Nepali territory. The embassy statement stated that a patrol team of SSB came across a few smugglers inside the Indian territory across the Sunsari district of Nepal.

"When challenged, the smugglers and their accomplices attacked the patrol team and injured one constable. An SSB personnel fired in the air in self-defence, following which the smugglers dispersed. The incident took place inside the Indian territory and no Nepali citizen was injured," read the statement. Endit