DHAKA At least 18 soldiers were killed on Wednesday in clashes between Indian and Bangladeshi border troops along the northern Kurigram frontier, Bangladesh security officials said.

"Sixteen troops of the Indian Border Security Force (BSF) got killed during a fight on the border at noon today," the chief of Bangladesh Rifles (BDR), Major General Fazlur Rahman, told Reuters.

He said two BDR men also died in the fighting.

Officials said the fighting was the worst border clash on record between the two countries.

India confirmed there had been shooting on Wednesday, but said only one person had been reported wounded.

Rahman said that Bangladeshi troops last week moved into Padua -- known as Pyrdiwah by India -- to reclaim a narrow strip of land he said India had illegally occupied for three decades.

BDR officials said the area of less than 250 acres (one square kilometre) on the fringe of India's mountainous northeastern state of Meghalaya had been under occupation since Bangladesh's independence in 1971 from Pakistan.

"Our forces have established control of Padua without firing a shot," Rahman said. "Wednesday's attack on two Bangladeshi border posts in the north has apparently been made in retaliation."

But India insisted Bangladeshi troops had trespassed on its land last weekend near Dakwi, the last Indian border town in Meghalaya, forcing over 500 villagers to flee their homes.

Rahman said the Indian soldiers were shot by Bangladeshi troops as they tried to capture Boroibari border post inside Bangladesh territory.

Rahman said Bangladesh troops were trying to establish contact with their Indian counterparts at Shillong and in New Delhi to try defuse tensions.

An Indian police official said reinforcements had been rushed to the area.

Bangladesh is almost entirely surrounded by India and both sides frequently bicker over border demarcations.