Dhaka  - Border officials of India and Bangladesh reached a deal pledging to bury the mistrust and bitterness of the past while strengthening ties between the border guards of each countries, officials said Monday.

Closing four days of talks on Sunday, officials of both countries appeared upbeat by the discussions about border incursions, frontier fencing, skirmishes and cross-border trade.

Ashish Kumar Mitra, director general of the Indian Border Security Force, called the talks in Dhaka with his counterpart Major General Shakil Ahmed of the Bangladesh Rifles fruitful.

"This meeting will certainly improve bilateral relationship between the border guards of the two neighbours," Mitra said.

Both countries complain of trading gunfire, and India blames Bangladesh for whipping up border tensions with illegal trading of cattle and arms.

Bangladesh has recently blamed Indian border guards for shooting at civilian Bangladeshis and provoking attacks on border patrolling units.

The meeting between the border security chiefs followed a shootout at the northern Rajshahi sector that left two Bangladeshi soldiers dead.

Both officials took the opportunity to swap lists of persons hiding from the law in each other's country.

India submitted a list of 263 Indian fugitives in Bangladesh, including some leaders of the United Liberation Front of Assam, an insurgent force in north-eastern India.

Bangladesh produced a list of 1,464 Bangladeshis allegedly involved in cross-border crimes and believed to be hiding in India.

The Indian Border Security Force declared a night curfew raising the security alert along the 4,000-kilometre land border, intended to curtail cross-border crimes.

More than half the length of the porous border has been fenced by the Indian authorities and search lights are routinely used.

The Bangladeshis identified 46 trouble spots along the border. (dpa)