Myanmar border shooting claims BD child’s life
Staff Reporter :
A nine-year-old child who was critically injured by a bullet fired from across the Bangladesh-Myanmar border in Teknaf died while undergoing treatment in Dhaka.
Huzaifa Afnan died at around 9:45 am on Saturday at the National Institute of Neurosciences and Hospital in the capital, where she had been receiving treatment for the past several weeks. She was shot 27 days earlier.
Confirming the death, her uncle Shawkat Ali said doctors declared Huzaifa dead in the morning and preparations were under way to take her body back home. He requested prayers for his niece.
The child, daughter of local resident Jasim Uddin, was seriously wounded on the morning of 11 January when a bullet fired from the Myanmar side struck her in the head in the Tekkhibridge area of Hoikyang Union in Teknaf upazila.
She was initially given local treatment, but as her condition deteriorated, she was admitted to the intensive care unit of Chattogram Medical College Hospital at around 6 pm the same day.
Two days later, on 13 January, she was transferred to Dhaka for advanced treatment after doctors were unable to remove the bullet lodged in her head.
At the time, Professor Harun Ur Rashid, head of the Anaesthesia and ICU Department at Chattogram Medical College Hospital, told the media that although surgery had been performed, the bullet could not be removed due to high risk. Efforts were instead made to reduce pressure on the brain.
The incident comes amid escalating violence in Myanmar’s Rakhine State, where air strikes, drone attacks, mortar shelling and explosions have increased in recent times.
Myanmar’s junta forces have intensified aerial attacks on positions of the Arakan Army around Maungdaw township, while clashes among various armed groups have further complicated the border situation.
The impact of the fighting across the border is increasingly being felt in Bangladeshi border areas. Residents of Teknaf report that explosions are shaking homes, while stray bullets are landing in residential houses, shrimp enclosures and the Naf River.
Huzaifa’s death has renewed fears over the safety of unarmed civilians living along the border. The news has cast a pall of grief over the local community.
In separate messages, BNP-nominated candidate for Cox’s Bazar-4 constituency Shahjahan Chowdhury and Jamaat-e-Islami-nominated candidate Nur Ahmad Anwari expressed deep sorrow over the child’s death and conveyed condolences to the bereaved family.
Local residents have urged the government to take urgent and effective measures to ensure the safety of civilians living in border areas.