Dhaka - Thousands of Bangladeshi workers in Kuwait began reporting back to their jobs Wednesday after their employers in the oil-rich state agreed to meet their demands for higher wages, the Bangladesh Foreign Ministry said.

Acting Foreign Secretary MAK Mahmud said the Bangladeshi mission in Kuwait confirmed that 12,000 workers who had walked off their jobs over simmering discontent on wages were returning to work.

The Kuwaiti companies hiring the Bangladeshis had agreed to give a raise to the expatriate workers who were mostly doing unskilled odd jobs, Mahmud added.

Dhaka - Tropical squalls sank a fishing trawler off the Bangladesh coast, drowning at least five fishermen in the turbulent waves of the Bay of Bengal, local officials said on Wednesday.

Rescuers picked up bodies of five fishermen from the water after gale winds and heavy showers battered the nearby beach resort city of Cox Bazar, 340 kilometres south of capital Dhaka, late Tuesday.

Dhaka - At least two people were killed and 18 others injured as two inter-city trains collided head-on near the frontier town of Laksham in eastern Bangladesh, media reports said Saturday.

One of the dead passengers was identified as Mohammad Mohiuddin, a 43-year old local farmer, who was traveling on one of the trains, the daily Bangladesh Observer said.

New Delhi, July 25: Army Chief General Deepak Kapoor will be going on a reciprocal goodwill visit to Bangladesh from July 28-31 on the personal invitation of Chief of Army Staff, Bangladesh Army.

The visit assumes special significance in the light of improving military cooperation between the two countries in consonance with India’s growing relationship with Bangladesh.

There have been limited high level visits between the two countries in the past. The last visit to Bangladesh by Indian Army Chief was in the year 2000.

Dhaka - Five schoolgirls drowned in a lake in the northern suburbs of the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka, after their pleasure boat capsized, rescuers said Thursday.

Four others were rescued Wednesday by firefighters as the teenagers struggled to keep themselves afloat in Beguntila lake, which was flooded by recent heavy monsoon rains, a spokesman for the local Mirpur police station said.

Kolkata, July 23 : Bangladesh Rifles today gunned down a Border Security Force soldier and injured a farmer at Mirsultanpur village in West Bengal''s Malda District on the Indo-Bangla border.

Sudarshan, 40, was killed, as he went to the border to relieve himself.

This soldier of the BSF’s 123 Battalion died of his wounds while on the way to the Malda Sadar Hospital.

“There was an exchange of fire between the border guards after the incident but the situation was under control as senior officers of police and the BSF rushed to the spot, said District Magistrate of Malda C R Das.

The farmer was watering his land when Bangladesh Rifles opened fire on him and injured his knee.