Thaindian News

New Delhi, June 22 (IANS) An Indian paramilitary trooper on a UN peacekeping mission in Liberia has died in a road accident, a senior official said Tuesday, denying reports that he was killed in a firing incident involving a Pakistani officer in the west African nation.
At the same time, the CRPF admits that a Pakistani Army officer opened fire at one of its camps at a different location in Liberia and that there was some damage to property but no casuslties.

Constable Dinesh Kumar Pandey, posted in Liberian capital Monrovia, “died in a road accident”, Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) chief Vikram Srivastava told IANS.

Srivastava, currently on an official tour to Orissa, said the constable was hit by a truck in Monrovia and was not killed in a firing incident.

“These are two separate incidents. There was no casualty in the firing incident,” he said.

CRPF spokesperson Ajai Chaturvedi said Pandey was manning a traffic junction when he was hit by a speeding vehicle May 30.

“He sustained serious skull injuries and was evacuated to Ghana for treatment, where he died June 5,” Chaturvedi said, adding that his body was brought to his home town Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh June 10.

Chaturvedi said the CRPF has two units in Liberia attached with the UN mandated Formed Police Unit - at Monrovia and Zwedru, some 560 km southeast of the capital.

About the firing incident, Chaturvedi said that in the early hours of June 8, “an officer of the Pakistani Army unit at Zwedru opened fire at the CRPF camp.

“There was some damage to property. Fortunately, no injuries were sustained by any of our personnel. The UN has begun investigations in the matter and a board of enquiry has been set up,” the CRPF spokesperson said.

Some ammunition and a rifle were recovered in front of the CRPF post after the incident.