Bangladesh border guards have been put on high alert so that no Myanmar national can enter Bangladesh territory following an airstrike near the frontier region in Bandarban district, a senior minister confirmed.
Reports coming out of Myanmar suggest a full-blown armed conflict has broken out between the country’s military, officially known as Tatmadaw, and an insurgency group called Arakan Army, or AA, at the moment.
The armed struggle has been going on for the last three weeks and intensified recently, according to the reports.
“We fear that like other times, internally displaced Myanmar civilians, who find themselves in the middle of warfare between militant insurgency groups and the Myanmarese military, will attempt to cross the border [to enter Bangladesh]. But this time, we won’t let that happen,” Foreign Minister AK Momen said after a government programme with tea workers in Sylhet on Saturday.
“Intel report, however, suggests this time these civilians have not been planning to cross Bangladesh border, which is good news.”
The minister also said they are in constant contact with the Myanmar mission in Dhaka regarding the development.
“Ambassador U Aung Kyaw Moe [Myanmar envoy in Dhaka] assured us that he will speak to his bosses in Naypyidaw so that further incidents like this do not happen,” Momen said.
Bandarban district police earlier in the day confirmed that two fighter jets and two attack helicopters, all with Myanmar military insignia, have fired as many as 10 shells and at least 35 rounds of bullets respectively within the Bangladesh territory along the Naikhongchhari borderline.
In a statement issued on Saturday, Bandarban Superintendent of Police Tariqul Islam said the attack choppers and the fighter jets were spotted near the border pillar No 40 and 41 around 9:15am, causing panic among locals.
“The warplanes passed the area between border pillars 40 and 41 under the surveillance of Reju Amtali (Border Observation Post) in Ghumdhum around 9:20 am,” said Tariqul Islam, the district’s superintendent of police.
The latest development took place only five days after two mortar shells from the military-ruled country also crossed the border amid the ongoing crackdown on seditious elements in the country.
Bandarban police confirmed that the two fighter jets and helicopters were attacking rebels in neighbouring Rakhine state when some of the shells fell in the Ghumdhum area of Naikhyangchhari Upazila on Saturday.
On Wednesday, Arakan Army insurgents killed 19 junta police officers when they seized a police outpost in Maungdaw Township near the border, according to the Irrawaddy, a news site founded by Burmese exiles living in Thailand.
They also looted firearms, ammunition and other equipment from the outpost’s armoury.
In response, the Myanmar regime conducted airstrikes in the region and moved to retake it, according to the report.
Previously, the Bangladesh government lodged a strong protest after two mortar shells fired from Myanmar fell into Bangladesh on Aug 28.
