At least two killed, several injured in Bangladesh amid fighting on Myanmar border

At least two people were killed and several others were injured in Bangladesh after mortar shells fired from Myanmar landed across the border amid clashes between rebel forces and the junta regime, reported AFP, on Monday (Feb 5) citing the police.

At least 2 killed in clashes

At least two people were killed and 17 others, including a child, have reportedly been injured after terrified Bangladeshi residents reported heavy fighting on the part of the border shared between Myanmar and Bangladesh.

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The part of the border in question has witnessed frequent clashes since November between rebel Arakan Army fighters and the Myanmar military after the former ended a ceasefire that had largely held since a 2021 coup.

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On Monday, international aid agency Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said they had treated 17 people wounded in the clashes on Sunday (Feb 4) “following fighting at the Bangladesh-Myanmar border”.

It added, “All the patients had gunshot wounds.” At least two people were in “life-threatening condition” and five were “seriously injured,” according to the MSF.

A 48-year-old Bangladeshi woman identified as Hosne Ara and an unnamed ethnic Rohingya man had been killed on Monday afternoon, reported AFP citing local police chief Abdul Mannan.

“They were sitting in the kitchen... when a mortar hit the place,” said Ara’s daughter-in-law, who was too distraught to give her name. She added, “She was serving lunch to the Rohingya man who was hired by the family for farm work when they were hit.”

Meanwhile, several Bangladeshi residents living near the Myanmar border said that they are constantly living in fear due to the fighting. “We are living in fear,” said Abdus Shukkur, 75 who lives in Tumbru Bazaar, a Bangladeshi village near the border, as quoted by AFP.

He added, “It’s not our war, but they are attacking our homes and people.”

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Mohammad Shamsud Douza, the deputy Bangladesh government official in charge of refugees, said many residents on the Bangladeshi side of the border have fled their houses and are living with relatives away from violence.

At least 95 Myanmar border guards fled to Bangladesh

At least 95 Myanmar border guards, some of them wounded, have fled to Bangladesh over the last few days, said officials in Dhaka, on Monday.

Members of the Myanmar Border Guard Police (BGP) entered Bangladesh with their weapons, said Shariful Islam, a spokesman for Border Guard Bangladesh. He added, at least 15 of them had bullet wounds when they crossed the border and they received treatment at different hospitals.

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On Sunday, Bangladesh Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan said that the BGP personnel had entered the country from Myanmar’s Rakhine state for “self-protection” amid the ongoing fighting.

(With inputs from agencies)