Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Wednesday said police could have “exercised some control” while resorting to firing to tackle the situation along the border with Meghalaya resulting in the death of five persons from the neighbouring state on Tuesday morning.

In his first reaction to the incident, Sarma said the incident had nothing to do with the inter-state border dispute but was a “clash” between the residents of Meghalaya and the forest protection force personnel from Assam over a seized truck “smuggling out illegal timber”.

The firing, in which one Assam forest guard also died, occurred at Mukhrow under Jirikinding police station’s jurisdiction in Assam’s West Karbi Anglong district.

“But I feel the amount of firing resorted to by the (Assam) police was not required. I think there was some unprovoked firing. The police could have exercised some control because the death of five persons is unfortunate for all of us,” Sarma said after the inauguration of a three-day celebration of the 400th birth anniversary of Ahom general Lachit Barphukan in New Delhi on Wednesday.

Both Sarma and his Meghalaya counterpart Conrad Sangma said efforts to resolve the border issue would not be impacted by the firing.

On Wednesday, Sangma led a cabinet delegation to visit the bereaved family members. The team handed over the exgratia of Rs 5 lakh to the families of each of the victims and promised justice for them.

Sangma told the agitating pressure groups that Assam was cooperating fully with Meghalaya and that a cabinet delegation would call on Union home minister Amit Shah in Delhi on November 24.

Five pressure groups will stage a sit-in in Shillong on Thursday, seeking security for people of Meghalaya living along the border.