Suspected members of the Kuki-Chin National Front attacked Thanchi police station in Bandarban on Thursday night following a joint operation launched by the law enforcers in the district in the wake of robberies in three branches of state-owned banks.
Confirming the matter, Thanchi upazila nirbahi officer Mohammad Mamun told New Age that the attack triggered an exchange of fire between the attackers and law enforcers that lasted at least an hour.
The exchange of fire ended at about 9:45pm, he said, but he could not confirm immediately if there was any causality.
Officials said that the government had intensified security arrangements in all key point installations, banks, insurance, NGOs, and other financial institutions in Bandarban after the ethnic armed group Kuki-Chin National Front carried out attacks in three banks, looting cash and arms between Tuesday night and Wednesday.
The suspected KNF members also abducted Sonali Bank manager Nezam Uddin. The Rapid Action Battalion said in a text message on Thursday said that they had rescued the abducted bank manager through negotiation. He was rescued after around 45 hours.
The RAB’s additional director general, Colonel Mahbub Alam, said that they could rescue Nezam from Ruma in the evening as part of their operations.
‘We took a number of strategies to rescue him, as different kinds of crimes were committed,’ he said, without sharing more details when he was asked if any ransom had been paid.
Security experts on Thursday criticised the ‘intelligence and operational failure’ of security, law enforcement, and intelligence agencies that led to attacks in three branches of state-owned Sonali Bank and Krishi Bank in Bandarban’s Ruma and Thanchi.
The security forces involving the Bangladesh Army, RAB, and the police launched a joint operation on Wednesday following the incidents.
Following the incident in Ruma, the army’s 69 infantry brigade commander, Brigadier General Mohammad Mehedi Hasan, held an emergency meeting with Bandarban police superintendent Shaikat Shahin and other senior security officials before launching the joint operation against KNF members.
The police reported that army soldier Shafikul Islam sustained bullets on his abdomen and leg at about 2:30am on Wednesday and was flown to the Combined Military Hospital in Chattogram.
Two retired major generals, meanwhile, said that it was a complete failure of the intelligence and security agencies to work proactively to secure their areas when the government was very much aware of fighting in Myanmar and ethnic tension in the bordering Indian state of Mizoram.
Retired major general Md Shahidul Haque, who served as a former defence attache at the Bangladesh embassy in Myanmar and former ambassador to Libya, said officials on duty should be held accountable for their security lapses and a thorough inquiry should be carried out to stop the repetition of such incidents.
He also suggested the security forces review their operational manual based on the geopolitical realities in the region, especially when the Arakan Army was fighting with the Myanmar Army along the Bangladesh border and ethnic groups were witnessing ethnic tension in the Indian state of Mizoram.
Md Nayeem Ashfaque Chowdhury, another retired major general from the Bangladesh Army who served in the CHT in various capacities, termed the incidents ‘unbelievable’ and ‘unacceptable’. ‘Intelligence should be proactive,’ he said.
A peace dialogue between the armed group KNF and a delegation of the Bangladesh government was initiated in mid-2023, and two in-person meetings were held in Ruma upazila on November 5, 2023, and March 5, 2024, following a series of virtual meetings.
Kay Swe Hla, Bandarban district council chairman, told reporters in Bandarban that the KNF and the peace restoration committee had agreed to halt all types of armed activities, but the deal was broken.
‘We are shocked by the recent incident, and all of our attempts to establish peace are subdued and questioned,’ he added.
Nayeem Ashfaque, however, said that peace talks should be continued alongside the outreach programme for the Bawm community and security operations in the area.
Talking to journalists, home minister Asaduzzaman Khan said on Thursday that such an incident forecasts bigger incidents.
He said that they were looking for the perpetrators who were behind the attacks.
The minister said that those who committed incidents like bank robberies, armed looting, and the kidnapping of a bank manager would be brought to justice.
Bangladesh Sangbad Sagstha quoted the home minister as saying that all hideouts of Kuki Chin were eliminated by the RAB and Army.
‘Later, they crossed our border, took shelter in some other countries, and started their activities again. They were also staying there,’ BSS quoted the minister, who did not mention the name of any country.
‘Now,’ the minister said, ‘they came from where and how we don’t know; sometimes their representatives talk to us. They also said that they wanted peace. But sudden attacks and bank robberies were new to us. Stern action will be taken against those involved in these incidents.’
Bandarban police additional superintendent Rayhan Kazemy said none had been arrested so far for their involvement in the incidents.
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