After some days of calm, a heavy gunbattle between the Myanmar army and the country’s rebel force Arakan Army again started on Sunday midnight across the border with neighboring Bangladesh, according to a Rohingya leader and locals.
“There was heavy firing throughout the night and we could not sleep at all in fear,” Mohammad Azizul Haq Rana, a resident of Bangladesh’s Ghumdum border area in Bandarban District, told Anadolu Agency.
According to official records and media reports, in the last two months at least two Rohingya have been killed and nearly one dozen others, including some Bangladeshi nationals, injured by mortars fired by Myanmar’s forces from across the border.
Since August 2017, nearly 4,500 Rohingya have been living in makeshift tents in the no-man’s land of Tambru area along the border between Bangladesh and Myanmar.
A Rohingya community leader at this camp told Anadolu Agency on Monday morning that a Rohingya youth was killed, and three others injured during Monday’s fighting.
“Residents of Rakhine State’s Maungdaw Township have reported that a fierce battle has been going on between the Military Council and the Arakan Army in sector 4 of northern Maungdaw township since 01.30 a.m. (1900GMT) today, Oct. 10,” the Rohingya leader, requesting anonymity, said.
According to him, a 37-year-old Rohingya, Seraz Uddin, was killed while three members of his family were seriously injured in cross-border firing in northern Maungdaw township.
Rohingya families in the area have shifted to nearby safer places amid the escalating gun fighting.
Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Border Guard Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar commander, Col. Mehedi Hossain Kabir, said they have beefed up security measures across the border and have already sent messages to Myanmar’s Border Police that their internal war should not affect Bangladesh.
“We have warned the Myanmar forces against firing mortar shells or bullets across the borderline into Bangladesh,” Kabir said, adding that forces are on the alert to avert any further influx of refugees due to the latest clashes.
-AA