DHAKA: Officials say a mortar shell has exploded accidentally during firing practice at a military training base in Bangladesh, killing five military and border guard personnel and injuring 14 others.

The army's public relations wing says the accident occurred Wednesday at Ghatail in Tangail district. It says 11 of the injured were flown by helicopter to a military hospital in Dhaka for treatment.

Of the dead, two were from the military and three were members of Border Guards Bangladesh, the country's border agency.