Myanmar clashes rage near Bangladesh’s border
TUMBRU, Bangladesh: Fighting in Myanmar raged close to the Bangladesh border on Sunday, with terrified residents reporting bullets crossing the frontier, medics treating patients and the government saying guards had fled to seek shelter.
Aid agency Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières or MSF) said its medics in southeastern Cox’s Bazar district had “received a large number of patients following fighting at the Bangladesh-Myanmar border.”
MSF said that on Sunday evening, 17 patients had been admitted to the Kutupalong Hospital for treatment without giving further details of their nationalities or injuries.
Bangladeshi Home Minister Asaduzzaman
Khan said at least 14 border officers from neighboring Myanmar’s restive Rakhine state “entered our territory for self-protection” ahead of advancing rebel Arakan Army (AA) fighters.
However, Bangladesh’s private broadcaster Channel 24 said the number of guards was higher, reporting that at least 66 officers had sought shelter, including 10 with bullet wounds.
“The Arakan Army has captured many areas of Rakhine state one after another,” Khan told reporters in Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka. “According to our information, they are advancing forward.”
Parts of Myanmar near the 270-kilometer (167-mile) border with Bangladesh — as well as neighboring India to the north — have seen frequent clashes since November, when AA fighters ended a ceasefire that had largely held since the Feb. 1, 2021 coup.
In October, an alliance that included AA insurgents and other ethnic minority fighters launched a joint offensive across northern Myanmar, seizing vital trade hubs on the Chinese border.
Last month, the alliance announced a Chinamediated ceasefire, but it does not apply to areas near the Bangladeshi and Indian border, where the fighting continues.
Bangladeshi villagers living close to the border said they were fearful the fighting would spill over.
Khairul Bashar, 25, said his uncle was shot in the leg by a stray bullet fired from Myanmar, adding that they “are spending sleepless nights in fear.”
Rahima Begum, 67, said she had fled the Bangladeshi village of Tumbru, saying her grandson “screamed in fear” when gunfire came close.
“Our homes were sprayed with bullets,” Begum said. “One bomb fell near our home and it shook terribly.”
Elementary schoolteacher Helal Uddin said students had stopped coming to her school near the border, and she had moved into Cox’s Bazar for “safety and shelter.”
MSF said it was monitoring the situation, expressing “concern for people living on both sides of the border who are affected by violence.”
Khan said Bangladesh had bolstered security along its border and would contact Myanmar to return the guards.
“Whoever enters inside our border, we will detain and hand them over to Myanmar,” he said.
Bangladesh is already home to about 1 million Rohingya refugees, driven out from Myanmar in a military crackdown in 2017.