At least two people including a woman were killed and another one was wounded in Bangladesh after mortar shells fired from Myanmar side landed in a bordering village of Ghumdhum union under Naikhongchhari upazila in Bandarban on Monday.
One of the two slain people is a Bangladeshi woman and the other is a Rohingya.
The deceased were identified as Hosneara Begum, 45, wife of Badsha Mia of ward no 4 of Naikhongchhari upazila, and Nabi Hossain, 65, a Rohingya and a resident of 8-E block Balukhali Rohingya Camp.
The Rohingya man came to work as a labourer in Hosneara’s house.
As tension mounted, panic-stricken people in many bordering villages continued to flee homes.
Meanwhile, 48 more Myanmar Border Guard Police (BGP), some of them wounded, have fled their post and taken refuge under the Border Guard of Bangladesh (BGB) in the border areas being unable to face the heavy fighting with rebel forces in Myanmar.
Cox’s Bazar Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner (RRRC) Mohammad Mizanur Rahman said around 400 people from the Myanmar’s Chakma community are waiting to cross into
Bangladesh amid ongoing clashes across the Ghumdhum border in Bandarban’s Naikhongchhari upazila.
Besides, many Rohingyas are also gathering at the border, he added.
The Ministry of Primary and Mass Education has announced the temporary closure of five government primary schools amid the rising tension due to ongoing fighting in Myanmar along the Ghumdum-Tumbru border of Naikhongchhari upazila in Bandarban district.
Bandarban Deputy Commissioner (DC) Shah Mujahid Uddin said the two people died when a mortar shell from Myanmar landed on Hosneara’s house and exploded around 2:30pm.
Hosneara’s grandson, five-year old, suffered injuries as the shell exploded while he was taking meal in the kitchen, said the DC.
Md Anwar Hossain, ward No 5 member of Ghumdhum Union, said they were sitting in the kitchen when a mortar hit the place. She was serving lunch to the Rohingya man who was hired by the family for farm work when they were hit.
Hosneara Begum’s body is being taken to Cox's Bazar Medical College Hospital’s morgue for autopsy.
Shariful Islam, public relations officer (PRO) at BGB headquarters said that “at least 106 Myanmar BGP personnel have crossed the border and taken shelter in Bangladeshi border posts.”
BGP soldiers were kept under BGB custody in Cox’s Bazar while the weapons they carried were deposited in BGB cache.
The official said many of the soldiers came to Bangladesh territory in combat uniform and weapons while others were in their plainclothes leaving as well their arms back home.
Necessary steps in this regard are underway, the BGB official said.
RRRC Mohammad Mizanur Rahman said that the conflict between the rebel group Arakan Army and the Myanmar junta is going on in Myanmar. This has led to a food crisis among those living on the border with Myanmar. Their lives are in danger. In this situation, they are trying to enter Bangladesh to save their lives.
BGB patrols have been strengthened at the border to prevent any Rohingya intrusion from Myanmar or any other community from infiltrating across the border, he added.
Aid agency Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said its physicians in Cox’s Bazar had received 17 patients following fighting at the Bangladesh-Myanmar border.
“All the patients had gunshot wounds. Two were in life-threatening condition, and five were seriously injured” said MSF.
Foreign minister Hasan Mahmud said the government of Myanmar has contacted the Bangladesh government about taking back the neighbouring country’s border guard (BGP) members who entered Bangladesh.
“We have continuous communication with Myanmar. The Myanmar state minister for foreign affairs communicated with our ambassador this morning (Monday). They will take back their border guard members. Now we have been discussing the mode of transport, whether planes or boats would be used to take them back,” said the minister.
Officials said BGB personnel briefly detained a Rohingya couple with three minor children as they reached the zerolines of the border at Ulubunia frontier and later took them to their temporary custody.
Residents near the border said that since Sunday night, the sound of intense gunfire has been heard from the Myanmar Border Guard Police (BGP) battalion headquarters in Decubunya across the border.
The fighting reportedly started there when the Arakan Army (AA) attacked the battalion headquarters of the BGP. Both sides are using heavy weapons including mortar shells, rocket launchers and machine guns.
Helicopters patrolled the vicinity of the Border Guard Police (BGP) camp at Tambru inside Myanmar from 12:00pm on Monday.
BGB asked local residents to stay indoors or move cautiously for safety.
The Ministry of Primary and Mass Education has announced the temporary closure of five government primary schools in a circular signed by the Deputy Secretary of the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education Aktarun Nahar on Monday (February 5).
The schools are - Baishpari Government Primary School, Bhajania Government Primary School, Tumbru Government Primary School, Paschimkul Tumbru Government Primary School and Dakshin Ghumdhum Government Primary School.
If the situation improves, the District Primary Education Officer, Bandarban Hill District, in consultation with the higher authorities, will take necessary measures to reopen the schools, including re-teaching in the said schools.
Bullets and mortar shells have been fired into Bangladesh over the last two days as gun battle between Myanmar troops and the armed group called Arakan Army has escalated in Rakhain state of Myanmar.
The length of Bangladesh’s border with Myanmar is about 271 kilometres. Major part of it fell in Bandarban and Cox’s Bazar districts. Several groups, including the Arakan Army, have intensified fighting in the border areas of Bangladesh for several weeks.
They have collectively launched an operation against Myanmar’s military. They have captured some border towns.
In the context of the conflict that has been going on for several weeks, the district administration and law enforcement forces of Cox’s Bazar and Bandarban have announced a high alert in the border areas of Bangladesh.
Currently, the number of Rohingya registered in 33 shelter camps in Ukhiya and Teknaf is 12 lakh. Of these, 7 lakh came from Rakhine State in the months after August 25, 2017. Even in six years of the Rohingya influx, not a single Rohingya could be sent back to Myanmar. Although repatriation was attempted twice before, it failed.