Five more Myanmar border guards seek shelter in Bangladesh

Five more personnel from Myanmar’s Border Guard Police, or BGP, have fled across the border into Cox’s Bazar’s Teknaf, seeking shelter from ongoing violence near the border.

They entered Bangladesh around 11:30pm on Sunday in the Kharangkhali area of Whykong Union, said Lt Col Mohiuddin Ahmed, captain of the Teknaf BGB Battalion.

Fourteen people have crossed the border looking for refuge in the past two days, he said.

Three more had crossed the border in Kharangkhali on Sunday and six more in Jhimongkhali.

On Mar 30, three members of the Myanmar military sought shelter near the Naikhongchhari border. On Mar 11 another 177 members of the BGP and Myanmar military fled to Bangladesh.

Previously, 330 security personnel from Myanmar had fled across the border to Bangladesh amid fighting between rebel insurgent groups and the military junta’s forces for the past few months. They were eventually sent back to Myanmar on Feb 15.

The rebels have managed to capture several areas and occupy checkposts.

People living in Bangladesh’s border areas have felt the impact of the ongoing conflict. Two Bangladeshis have been shot dead by gunfire from across the border and several others have been injured.