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By AFP
Combating in Myanmar raged near the Bangladesh border on Sunday, with terrified residents reporting bullets crossing the frontier, medics treating sufferers and the federal government saying guards had fled searching for shelter.
Help company Médecins Sans Frontières, or Medical doctors With out Borders, mentioned its medics in Cox’s Bazar had “acquired numerous sufferers, following preventing on the Bangladesh-Myanmar border”.
MSF mentioned that on Sunday night 17 sufferers had been admitted to Kutupalong Hospital for therapy, with out giving additional particulars of their nationalities or accidents.
Bangladesh residence minister Mr Asaduzzaman Khan mentioned not less than 14 border officers from neighbouring Myanmar’s restive Rakhine State “entered our territory for self-protection” forward of advancing insurgent Arakan Military fighters.
Nonetheless, Bangladesh’s personal broadcaster Channel 24 mentioned the variety of guards was increased, reporting not less than 66 officers had sought shelter, together with 10 with bullet wounds.
“The Arakan Military has captured many areas of Rakhine State one after one other,” Khan instructed reporters in Dhaka.
“In line with our info, they’re advancing ahead.”
Elements of Myanmar close to the 270-kilometre border with Bangladesh – in addition to neighbouring India to the north – have seen frequent clashes since November, when AA fighters ended a ceasefire that had largely held since a 2021 coup.
In October, the Three Bortherhood Alliance – together with the AA, Myanmar Nationwide Democratic Alliance Military and Ta’ang Nationwide Liberation Military – launched a joint offensive throughout northern Shan State, in northern Myanmar, seizing important commerce hubs on the Chinese language border.
Final month, the Brotherhood introduced a China-mediated ceasefire, nevertheless it doesn’t apply to areas close to the Bangladeshi and Indian border, the place preventing continues.
‘Sleepless nights in worry’
Bangladeshi villagers residing near the border mentioned they had been fearful the preventing would spill over.
Mr Khairul Bashar, 25, mentioned his uncle was shot within the leg by a stray bullet fired from Myanmar.
“We’re spending sleepless nights in worry”, Bashar mentioned.
Ms Rahima Begum, 67, mentioned she had fled the Bangladeshi village of Tumbru, saying her grandson “screamed in worry” when gunfire got here shut.
“Our properties had been sprayed with bullets,” Begum mentioned.
“One bomb fell close to our residence and it shook terribly.”
Major instructor Ms Helal Uddin mentioned college students had stopped coming to her college close to the border, and she or he had moved into Cox’s Bazar for “security and shelter”.
MSF mentioned it was monitoring the scenario, expressing “concern for folks residing on either side of the border who’re affected by violence”.
Khan mentioned Bangladesh had bolstered safety alongside its border, and would contact Myanmar to return the guards.
“Whoever enters inside our border, we’ll detain and hand them over to Myanmar,” he mentioned.
Bangladesh is already residence to round a million Rohingya refugees, most of them pushed out from northern Rakhine in a army crackdown in 2017.
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