Dhaka - An Indian boarder guard Sunday night shot down three Bangladesh nationals in a remote village of the country's northern frontier district of Panchagarh, local media reported Monday.

Officials at the Bangladesh Rifles headquarters in Dhaka said that the Border Security Force of India killed the three innocent villagers, including an infant and her mother.

They said villagers captured a member of the Indian guard after the firing incident in the dead of night. The BSF man was reported to be drunk.

Dhaka - Bangladesh and Myanmar began talks Sunday on the demarcation of their maritime border, which caused tension earlier this month between the neighbours over off-shore hydrocarbon exploration.

Bangladesh's additional Foreign Secretary MAK Mahmud and Myanmar deputy minister Maung Myit lead their respective delegations at the talks in progress in Bangladesh capital.

The dialogue will come against the backdrop of movement of warships in the Bay of Bengal by both the countries after Myanmar's alleged intrusion into Bangladesh's territorial waters for oil and gas exploration.

The two nations met earlier in April 2008 to discuss the maritime demarcation issues after a break of more than two decades.

Dhaka - Bangladesh's military-backed interim government said Saturday all preparations were ready for the December elections to restore the country to democracy.

"The entire nation is now ready for the democratic transition through the December 18 elections to be participated by all the parties," an adviser to the interim administration, Hossain Zillur Rahman, told a news briefing.

The government considers further relaxation of the state of emergency once the deadline for nomination paper submission expires on November 20, he said.

"The government will consider complete lifting the state of emergency if the election environment develops smoothly," Zillur said.

Dhaka - Bangladesh's two arch political rivals - Sheikh Hasina Wajed of Awami League and Khaleda Zia of Bangladesh Nationalist Party - have agreed to resolve broader national issues through dialogue, political aides of the two leaders said Wednesday.

Hasina wants discussion on specific issues while Zia opts for dialogue without any "agenda and pre-condition."

Dhaka- A Bangladeshi court on Wednesday granted bail to three former ministers of Bangladesh's predecessor government run by a Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP)-led alliance, two days after their detention in a graft case, court officials said.

Dhaka  - Bangladesh's chief adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed is expected to meet Myanmar junta chief General Thein Sein to discuss disputes over territorial waters on the sideline of the BIMSTEC summit to be held in New Delhi Thursday, officials in Dhaka said Wednesday.

The leaders are expected to discuss maritime boundary demarcations, the lack of which had caused tension between the two neighbours over oil and gas exploration in the disputed Bay of Bengal waters.