The tension amid ongoing conflict inside Myanmar shifted from the sleepy Tumbru of Bandarban to Teknaf in Cox’s Bazar amid sounds of gunfire and explosions across the border on Friday, leaving local residents still panicked.
Aminul Islam, a resident of Kanderpara village under the Whaykong union of Teknaf told New Age that gunfights between Myanmar forces and ethnic rebel group Arakan Army continued across the border.
‘We heard the sound of a gunfight around 2:00pm. The fighting continued today, though the intensity was less,’ he said.
Basat Karim, a shrimp farmer from the Master Para area, said that what was happening in Myanmar could be seen with an open eye.
‘My farm is not too far from the border. We could see in our eyes what was happening there. In the afternoon, people in black [the Arakan Army] were seen exchanging gunfire with Myanmar’s Nasaka [BGP],’ he said.
Whaykong union chairman Noor Ahmad Anwari told New Age that the sound of fighting with heavy weapons was heard from the Unchiprang, Kanjarpara, Kharankkhali, and Jhimankhali areas.
‘Local shrimp farmers near the border are really panicking,’ he said.
Whaykong union parishad member Rashid Ahmad said that from Thursday evening to Friday morning, they heard the sound of gunfights involving heavy weapons.
Locals found the body of a man inside the Teknaf area, and video footage that went viral showed a land mine exploding in the same place.
‘We are not sure how he was killed or what his identity is. We learned about the body on Thursday evening and informed BGB. We are yet to receive the body to start legal formalities,’ said Cox’s Bazar police superintendent, Mahfuzul Islam.
None have so far approached police to claim his identity, he added.
Witnesses, meanwhile, said that they spotted an exploded artillery shell at Tambru under Naikhyangchari of Bandarban.
Naikhyangchari police station officer-in-charge Abdul Mannan said the exploded shell was found inside a bordering paddy field, and Border Guard Bangladesh personnel took it to a safe place for disposal.
No new arrival was reported on Friday, said the BGB public relations officer, Shariful Islam, at about 6:45pm on Friday.
Authorities in Bangladesh said that Naypyidaw had yet to inform Dhaka about their detailed repatriation plans for the country’s some 330 troops and civilian staff who entered Bangladesh in the past few days fleeing the conflict.
Foreign ministry spokesperson Seheli Sabrin told the weekly media briefing in Dhaka on Thursday that they have been in communication with the Myanmar embassy in Dhaka and their counterparts in Myanmar to send back their Border Guard Police and military personnel as soon as possible in a safe way.
At least two people were killed and five others injured in the past week due to shelling and firing from the Myanmar side, leading the Bangladesh government to protest with the Myanmar envoy in Dhaka against the violation of the sanctity of the international border.
The BGB deployed armoured personnel carriers along the border and intensified surveillance.
New Age
