The sound of mortar shells and bullets is heard intermittently throughout the night on the border of Hoikang and Hnila Union of Teknaf in Cox’s Bazar. Clashes between the Arakan Army and the Junta forces in Myanmar’s Rakhine state have left the people of Apar with a fear of the unknown as the sound of mortar shells and gunfire. Because of this, BGB and Coast Guard patrols have been increased. Residents living along the border heard heavy mortar shells and shelling at several points along the Teknaf border from Saturday night to Sunday morning (March 3).
Rashed Mahmud Ali, chairman of Hnila Union Parishad of Teknaf, said that he had heard the sound of gunfire at night. “At night, I heard the sound of heavy mortar shells intermittently from across the border in Myanmar. The sound of gunfire has now become a regular occurrence. Because the Myanmar civil war is ongoing,
who lives on the border with Hnila, Alam Shaheen said the sound of Myanmar’s heavy gunfire is heard in our house all night long. Sometimes I wake up in fear of heavy noise. A UP member of Ward No. 8 of Hoikang Union Parishad of Teknaf Mohammad Alam said, “Sounds of gunshots were found on the border. People have been asked to be careful.
Meanwhile,
there was no sound of gunshots at the Shahpari island border, but the jetty on the island has still closed people’s movement, said Abdul Sukkur, a shopkeeper there. He said that there has been no sound of firing on this border for a few days.
However, Coast Guard patrols in Nafnadi and BGB patrols on the border continue. But due to the closure of the jetty, our business is suffering huge losses. Rohingyas are still trying to infiltrate Myanmar. Already during the infiltration, around four hundred Rohingyas have been sent back by the law and order forces in charge of the border.
In this regard, Coast Guard Chittagong East Zone media officer Lt. Tahsin Rahman said, “We (the Coast Guard) have strengthened our patrols against the possibility of border infiltration through Nafnadi amid the ongoing war situation on the other side. No new entries are allowed. Already, we have resisted more than two hundred Rohingya infiltrators.
Ibn Amin, who lives near Nafnadi in Teknaf municipality, said that the sound of gunshots was heard intermittently during the night. Across the border from Bashipara (Bakshipara) in Myanmar, there is a loud sound of gunfire. Many times, the sound of heavy mortar shells seems to be an earthquake.
It is to be noted that since the night of February 2, the border guard police (BGP) of Myanmar have started clashing with the rebel group Arakan Army across the border of Naikshyongchari in Bandarban. On February 5, two people, including a woman,
were killed when a mortar shell fired from Myanmar hit a kitchen in Jalpaitli village of Ghumdhum union in Naikshyongchari. During the conflict, 330 people, including members of Myanmar’s border guard force, fled to Bangladesh. They were sent back to Myanmar on February 15.
