Mortar shells from Myanmar land in Bangladesh, 17 wounded, Rohingya among victims; fear grips border villages
\nDhaka
\nAt least two people were killed in Bangladesh Monday after mortar shells fired from Myanmar during clashes there landed across the border, as terrified residents reported heavy fighting and medics treated several with gunshot wounds.
\nParts of Myanmar near the 270-kilometre (167-mile) border with Bangladesh have seen frequent clashes since November, when rebel Arakan Army fighters ended a ceasefire that had largely held since a 2021 coup.
\nBangladeshi villagers living close to the border said they were fearful of the fighting, with aid agency Doctors Without Borders (MSF) saying they had treated 17 people wounded in the clashes on Sunday \u201cfollowing fighting at the Bangladesh-Myanmar border\u201d.
\n\u201cAll the patients had gunshot wounds\u201d, MSF said Monday. \u201cTwo were in life-threatening condition, and five were seriously injured.\u201d
\nLocal police chief Abdul Mannan said a Bangladeshi woman, named as 48-year-old Hosne Ara, and an unnamed ethnic Rohingya man had been killed on Monday afternoon.
\n\u201cThey were sitting in the kitchen… when a mortar hit the place,\u201d Ara\u2019s daughter-in-law said, too distraught to give her name.
\n\u201cShe was serving lunch to the Rohingya man who was hired by the family for farm work when they were hit.\u201d
\nBangladeshi villagers living close to the border said fighting broke out across the frontier last week, with many sending their children away to relatives to escape the conflict.
\n\u201cWe are living in fear,\u201d said Abdus Shukkur, 75, from Tumbru Bazaar, a Bangladeshi village near the border. \u201cIt\u2019s not our war, but they are attacking our homes and people.\u201d
\nHasina Banu, 50, returned to her home in Tumbru on Monday morning after four days, only to be caught up in fresh clashes. She reported having seen helicopter gunships firing near her.
\n\u201cI didn\u2019t eat anything since last night,\u201d Banu said. \u201cWe are in constant fear for our life.\u201d
\nBangladesh Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan on Sunday said that border police officers from neighbouring Myanmar\u2019s Rakhine state had \u201centered our territory for self-protection\u201d ahead of advancing AA fighters.
\nA spokesman of the Border Guard Bangladesh, the country\u2019s frontier forces, told AFP Monday that \u201cat least 95 border officers of Myanmar have crossed the border and taken shelter in Bangladeshi border posts\u201d.
\nA Myanmar junta spokesman could not be reached for comment on the clashes.
\nMyanmar\u2019s rebel Three Brotherhood Alliance, of which the AA is a member, said late Sunday that AA fighters were battling Myanmar border guard forces near Bangladesh.
\nThey reported nearly 60 members of the Myanmar security forces had \u201csneaked into Bangladesh through the border and escaped with weapons\u201d.
\nIn October, an alliance including AA insurgents and other ethnic minority fighters launched a joint offensive across northern Myanmar, seizing vital trade hubs on the Chinese border.
\nLast month, the alliance announced a China-mediated ceasefire, but it does not apply to areas near the Bangladeshi and Indian border, where fighting continues.
\nBangladesh is already home to around one million Rohingya refugees, driven out of Myanmar in a military crackdown in 2017.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Mortar shells from Myanmar land in Bangladesh, 17 wounded, Rohingya among victims; fear grips border villages Dhaka At least two people were killed in Bangladesh Monday after mortar shells fired from Myanmar during clashes there landed across the border, as terrified residents reported heavy fighting and medics treated several with gunshot wounds. Parts of Myanmar […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":385558,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-385541","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n