5-2-2024 (YANGON) Escalating violence between rebel forces and the junta regime in Myanmar has prompted at least 95 Myanmar border guards, some of them wounded, to flee to Bangladesh in recent days, according to officials on Monday.
Reports from AFP indicate that mortar shells fired from Myanmar have landed across the border, resulting in the deaths of at least two individuals in Bangladesh.
Since the military coup against the elected government in 2021, the junta has been grappling with a significant challenge as it attempts to suppress a bloody rebellion. Allied anti-junta groups, supported by a pro-democracy parallel government, have gained control over several military posts and towns.
Gunfire can be heard from across the Myanmar border in Cox’s Bazar, a southeastern tourist district of Bangladesh. This district is home to nearly one million members of the Muslim minority from Myanmar who live in temporary bamboo-and-plastic hut camps after fleeing a military crackdown in 2017.
Spokesperson Shariful Islam from Border Guard Bangladesh stated that members of the Myanmar Border Guard Police (BGP) entered Bangladesh with their weapons, and 15 of them had bullet wounds upon crossing the border. The wounded individuals have received treatment at various hospitals.
Mohammed Mizanur Rahman, Bangladesh’s refugee relief and repatriation commissioner based in Cox’s Bazar, stated that the BGP troops could be accommodated in the nearby district of Bandarban before repatriation back to Myanmar. He mentioned the availability of transit camps in Bandarban, originally built for the repatriation of Rohingya refugees, which are currently empty.
On Monday, bullets and mortar shells from across the Myanmar border landed in Bangladesh territory, resulting in the deaths of a Bangladeshi woman and a Rohingya individual, according to Mohammad Shamsud Douza, the deputy government official in charge of refugees in Cox’s Bazar. He added that a child was injured in the incident as well. Fear has driven many residents on the Bangladeshi side of the border to seek refuge with relatives in safer areas away from the violence.
Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh have reported panic in the camps in Myanmar, with many expressing a desire to cross over to Bangladesh due to disrupted supply chains caused by the ongoing conflict.
Rohingya refugee Oli Hossain stated, “Now and then we hear the sound of gunshots from Myanmar. Some of the Rohingya Muslims want to flee here as they are living in constant fear without basic needs. Even we are living in fear because of the sound of gunshots.”
At leat 68 members of Myanmar’s border guard fled to Bangladesh. According to local sources there was heavy firing at the border between AA and border guards. At 8am a batch of 4 injured soldiers crossed in Bangladesh from Tumbru border. 15 soldiers are being medically treated. pic.twitter.com/TY4wXOPNqi
— Ali Johar (မောင်သိန်းရွှေ) (@mtsjohar) February 4, 2024
