At least 58 soldiers of Myanmar's paramilitary Border Guard Police (BGP) took refuge in Bangladesh, fleeing their posts amid reports of heavy gunfights between the government troops and the rebels in the neighboring country.

Their weapons and ammunition have been deposited with the Bangladesh Border Guard (BGB). Two civilians also crossed the border and took refuge in Bangladesh, according to sources.

The firing at the border has left two Bangladeshis shot and injured. They are Shamsu, 55 and Prabir Dhar, 65, both from the Ghona area of Tombru. 

“58 Myanmar soldiers, along with their weapons, have taken refuge in our school. Of them, 5 BGP members were carrying bullet injuries. They were taken to a local hospital,” Hamidul Haque, assistant teacher at Tombru Government Primary School told Dhaka Tribune.

Escalating tensions along the Myanmar-Bangladesh border have reached a critical point, with the Arakan Army (AA) capturing a Myanmar guard outpost in a night-long battle.

The incident occurred in Myanmar guard’s camp no 34, located across the border from Naikhongchhari in Bandarban and Ukhiya in Cox's Bazar, causing significant distress in nearby villages due to constant shelling and mortar fire.

Lt Col Abdullah Al Masruque, the commander of BGB-34 Battalion in Cox’s Bazar, reported that the ongoing infighting in Myanmar has intensified, leading to members of the Myanmar security forces illegally entering Bangladeshi territory.

As an immediate response, BGB members cordoned off the BGP members, disarmed them, and confiscated their arms and ammunition.

“We are now taking steps as per international norms,” Lt Col Masruque said.

Officials earlier said 14 BGP personnel crossed the border in predawn hours through the Ghumdum border while a BGB spokesman in Dhaka thereafter asked journalists to await a media briefing on the development, but there was no official briefing until the evening.

The District administration of Bandarban, where the troubled frontier is located, closed five schools and a madrasa for security reasons fearing mortar shells or stray bullets to landside Bangladesh territory as the gunfights are underway on the other side of the border.

BGB asked local residents to stay indoors or move cautiously for safety while the skirmishes in southern and northern parts of Tombru, also known by the same name in Myanmar, appeared to be fiercest so far. Tombru is located in Ghumdum union of Naikhongchhari Upazila of Bandarban.

Officials said reports from the other side of the border suggested that army helicopters were strafing rebel fighters, raising concerns of massive casualties.

Residents of frontier villages, including local Union Parishad members, said the sound of gunfights on the Myanmar side of the border on Saturday night and Sunday panicked residents in villages in the frontier.

Media reports said the skirmishes between the government troops and the rebel Arakan Army frightened residents in several frontier Bangladesh villages as several mortar shells and bullets landed inside Bangladesh in the past several days, though no casualties were reported.

Bangladesh earlier ordered extra security vigil on the border with Myanmar in view of the gunfights between the Myanmar military and the insurgent AA, which is active in the bordering Rakhine region of the country.

Sources on the border area reveal that the AA has successfully captured almost all camps of Myanmar's ruling junta forces across the Naikhongchhari border in the ongoing conflict in Rakhine.

The situation is critical, with the AA seeking to gain control of the remaining camps currently occupied by Myanmar junta forces, including the notable Dhekibunia camp.

Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal yesterday said the process to send back the BGP members was underway.

“They are now in the custody of the BGB and the process is underway to send them back to Myanmar through the Foreign Ministry, but none should come here,” he told the journalists at his ministry office at Bangladesh Secretariat.

The minister said they (Myanmar border police) entered into Bangladesh territory with weapons for self-defense. Recalling Bangladesh’s Liberation War in 1971, he said millions of Bangladeshi people went to India and took shelter there. So, the border police of Myanmar entered into Bangladesh for shelter not for war.

To de-escalate the conflict in view of Beijing's close contacts with Burmese authorities, Road Transport Minister and Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader sought Chinese intervention in this regard.

"The internal war is their (Myanmar's) domestic concern. But when the sound of gunfights is heard at the border, naturally it creates panic in the public mind. We, therefore, expect Beijing's intervention," Quader told newsmen after his meeting with the Chinese envoy.

Amid continuous firing, the border situation remains tense, prompting around 3,000 residents from two villages to seek refuge elsewhere.

The sounds of mortar shells and gunfire were intermittently heard until the filing of this report at 10am on Sunday.

Bullets and mortar shell fragments landed on the property of two Bangladeshi houses on the Tombru border.

News Source : Dhaka Tribune