3,000 enter Bangladesh, thousands more at border
SHAMSUDDIN ILLIUS, Ctg and TOUFIQUL ISLAM LIPU, Teknaf, Cox’s Bazar
Several thousand Rohingyas are waiting at the Bangladesh-Myanmar border to enter Bangladesh, after fresh attacks on 30 Myanmar police outposts and army base in the Rakhine state of Myanmar on Friday. Rohingyas, most of them women, children and elderly people, are waiting at the no-mans land.
Sources at the local and unregistered Rohingya camps said more than 3,000 people entered Bangladesh and took shelter at unregistered camps and houses in Coxs Bazar district on Fridayand Saturday. These people fled Myanmar for fear of persecution.
Some of the Rohingyas were found injured. Bullet-hit Mohammad Musa, 22, son of Ismail of the Maungdaw area in Rakhine State, died at Chittagong Medical College Hospital (CMCH). Md Mokter, 27, son of Gul Mohammad Sheikh of Maungdaw, was undergoing treatment at the CMCH. At least 12 injured Rohingyas were admitted to the Ukhiya MSF Hospital, and many were being treated at different local hospitals of Coxs Bazar, said sources.
They are entering Bangladesh crossing the Naf river through different border points, including Lambabeel, Kharaingaghona, Lambabeel and Ulubunia in Teknaf upazila, and Anjumanpara and Thaingkhali Rahmaterbeel in Ukhia upazila.
More are gathering at different points of the Bangladesh-Myanmar border and waiting to enter Bangladesh.
The Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) said surveillance at the border has been increased and additional forces have been deployed to stop infiltration. The Rohingyas could not enter Bangladesh as the BGB had adopted zero tolerance against refugees entering the country illegally, a BGB officer said.
However, on a visit to Rohingya camps, locally known, as taal at Ukhiya, Teknaf and Balukhali many newly-arrived refugees were found.
On Saturday, the BGB sent back 17 Rohingyas when they were trying to enter Bangladesh through the Ulobonia border point in Whykong Union of Teknaf upazila.
The Bangladesh Coast Guard sent back 56 Rohingyas trying to enter Bangladesh at different points of the Naf river on Saturday, said Lt Sajeeb, contingent commander of the Coast Guard at Teknaf.
Lt Colonel Ariful Islam, BGB Teknaf-2 Battalion, said: We have increased our surveillance at border points following Fridays incident at Rakhine State.
We have increased our forces four times to stop intrusion. Most of the Rohingyas who tried to enter were sent back on Saturday, said Coxs Bazar BGB-34 Battalion Commander, Lt Col Manjurul Ahsan Khan.
He said some Rohingyas are staying along the zero-line of the border at isolated places. The BGB is determined to stop their entry.
Locals at Naitong Para of Teknaf upazila said that at around 4pm on Saturday they saw smoke coming out from a village in Maungdaw. The Rohingyas who have fled from Myanmar said security forces set on fire many villages and the cleansing operation was going on. The locals also said they heard gunshots. Abu Taher, a villager of Whykong, said: As the Myanmar security forces set villages on fire, we saw smoke. We heard firing intermittently. BGP opens fire on Rohingyas at border:
The Myanmar Border Guard Police (BGP) yesterday (Saturday) fired at some Rohingya refugees, near the Toombro border on the Naf river in Bandarban district.
After the firing, we increased surveillance at Toombro. The incident took place at the no-mans land of the Naf river near the border in Naikhongchhari upazila of Bandarban district, said Lt Col Manjurul Ahsan Khan, Commander of the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) battalion 34. They (BGP) shot three to four rounds at around 1pm. But no one was injured, added Khan.
Bangladesh has a 272-km border with Myanmar that falls in Bandarban and Coxs Bazar. Of this, a 52-km stretch is on the Naf river. Rohingya rebel fighters, under the banner of the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), a group previously known as Harakah al-Yaqin, which instigated the October attacks, staged a coordinated attack on 30 police posts and an army base in Rakhine State on Friday that killed 12 security officials and 77 Rohingya rebel fighters.
The Myanmar government has denied citizenship to the Rohingya minorities, terming them as immigrants from Bangladesh. They have been facing persecution for many years. At least 500,000 are living in Coxs Bazar, having fled from their homes. Around 87,000 Rohingyas joined hundreds of thousands of refugees in Bangladesh after the Myanmar army cracked down on militants following an attack on a police post in October last year. The latest attacks on Friday night may lead to another wave of refugee influx.
UNB adds from Coxs Bazar: Police in separate drives arrested 67 Rohingyas, including women and children, from Kutupalong area in Ukhia upazila yesterday.
Officer-in-Charge of Ukhia Police Station M Abul Khayer said the arrestees will be handed over to Border Guard of Bangladesh (BGB) for sending back to Myanmar.
In another development, Myanmar Border Guard Police (BGP) fired several hundred blank shots in several spells through Ghundhum and Dhamonkhali border points at noon and afternoon, said Lt Cl Manjurul Hasan Khan, company commander of 34 BGB of Coxs Bazar.
BGB demonstrated immediate protest for firing blank shots towards Bangladeshi border, Khan added. However, panic gripped the residents of the border area following the blank shot firing incident. Additional BGB personnel have been deployed in the border points to prevent the Rohingya influx.
