The firing on the Myanmar side of the Bangladesh-Myanmar border started again Monday a week after it had stopped – the latest in the series of violent incidents in the area.
Firing resumed on the Myanmar side of Bangladesh’s Reju Amtali border – close to pillars 39 and 40 – of Ghumdhum union in Bandarban’s Naikhongchhari upazila and continued for an hour, gripping the locals with fear.
For several days, there was no firing in the area but it suddenly started again after 6pm today and continued till 7pm, sending a panic wave among the locals, SM Jahangir Aziz, chairman of Ghumdum union parishad, told UNB.
The villagers were found hunkering down in their homes and did not go out unless there was an emergency.
Locals said the massive sounds of firing shook their houses near the border.
However, there was no casualty inside Bangladesh, Jahangir said.
Firing has been continuing on the Myanmar side of Bangladesh’s Tombru of Ghumdhum for the past two months.
On September 16, a Rohingya boy was killed and five others injured as a mortar shell fired by the Myanmar army exploded at Zero Point Rohingya Camp.
The deceased was identified as Mohammad Iqbal of the camp.
On the same day, another Bangladeshi youth was seriously injured in a landmine explosion along the Bangladesh-Myanmar border in Naikhongchhari upazila of Bandarban.
The injured was Anganthowai Tanchangya, 22, a resident of Ghumdhum union of the upazila.
Locals said it was the Myanmarese army that had mined the area. One exploded near the Tombru border when the youth went there to bring back his cow.
Twelve mortar shells have been fired by the Myanmar army on Bangladesh territory so far. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bangladesh warned Myanmar over it.
