Some 20 families fled from homes to safe places amid escalating gunfight in Myanmar

Staff Reporter :
Amid the escalating gunfire and mortar shelling along the Bangladesh-Myanmar Border over the last two days, the locals in Naikhongchhari Upazila of Bandarban are fleeing their homes to safe place.
Some 15-20 families near the border areas had so far left their homes for safer places on Saturday due to heavy mortar shelling and firing bullets, Salma Ferdous, Upazila Nirbahi Officer of Naikhongchhari Upazila told the New Nation on Sunday.
“Over the last two days the situation is tension. But it is calm today. Some 15-20 families have been evacuated to safer places. We are telling the locals to remain careful amid this situation,” she added.
She also said that they are regularly updating the high-ups of the ministry about the situation there.
The locals said that heavy firefighting was heard from beyond the international border from Friday to Saturday, which created much panic among the locals and many of them left their houses to take shelter in safe places. Sources said that the Border Guard Bangladesh was on high alert and was patrolling the border areas.
Over the last two months, the border tensions have been prevailing due to the internal fighting between Myanmar Army and ARSA.
During the conflicts, Myanmar had breached air space and their mortar shells and bullets landed inside Bangladesh territory.
Following such incidents, Ministry of Foreign Affairs had summoned Myanmar envoy to Dhaka several times to warn not to repeat such incidents.
Amid the firing in the last two months, at least two Rohingyas had been killed and nearly dozens were injured by mortar shells across the border.
Last week, Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen requested China to tell Myanmar to take back some 5,000 Rohingyas staying on the no-man’s land of Bangladesh because such border firing may force these people to enter Bangladesh.
Bangladesh has been hosting over 1.2 million persecuted Rohingyas since Myanmar military crackdown in August 2017. Bangladesh has been telling that Myanmar has created the Rohingya crisis and they have to resolve it by repatriating the Rohingyas to their homeland.