Sixteen more mortar shells, reportedly drifted down the swollen Teesta river following the cloudburst and flash flood in Sikkim last week, were defused in West Bengal's Jalpaiguri district on Thursday, police said.

Twenty mortar shells were deactivated on Wednesday.

A joint team of police and the Army recovered sixteen mortar shells during the day and defused them in an area under the Chengmari Gram Panchayat, Kranti Police Outpost officer-in-charge Mansuruddin said.

The police believed that the mortar shells belonged to the Army and were carried away by floodwater flowing down from the hills following the cloudburst and flash floods in neighbouring Sikkim.

The initiative was taken after at least two persons were killed and four others injured in the district last week as a mortar shell, reportedly drifted down the floodwater of Teesta river, exploded.

"Overall 36 mortar shells have been defused in the last two days and the search operation will continue," the police officer added.

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