80 Khyang families flee deadly shootout in Bandarban

Police recover eight bodies with gunshot wounds from Khamtang Para near Ruma-Rowangchhari road in Bandarban

The residents of a Khyang village have fled their homes in the hills to seek refuge at Bandarban’s Rowangchhari Upazila after an alleged shootout between ethnic groups left at least eight people dead.

More than 250 people from 80 families in Khamtang Para near Ruma-Rowangchhari road left their homes in the dark on Thursday night. They took shelter in a nearby forest and church, where they spent the night, according to the village head.

The following morning, they headed to the nearby Upazila town.

Most of them belong to the Khyang ethnic group and practise Christianity. They declined to discuss the situation, fearing for their safety.

Police went to Khamtang Para after receiving information from local representatives and recovered eight bodies with gunshot wounds. The bodies were then taken to Bandarban Sadar Hospital for autopsy.

Khorshed Alam Chowdhury, chief executive of Rowangchhari Upazila administration, said on Friday night that around 50 people arrived at Rowangchhari Government Primary School in the morning. As the day progressed, the number gradually increased to 185 people.

He said he heard about 64 hill people, including men, women, and children, took shelter at the Bawm Community Centre in Ramu Upazila.

Korshed said each family received five kg of rice and other supplies. The Upazila Project Implementation Officer has been directed to take steps to shelter them.

The members of the Khyang ethnic group who came to Rowangchhari were given food and blankets under the supervision of the army and the Upazila administration.

As many as 75 people from 22 families who left Khamtang Para after the shooting incident took shelter at the Bawm Community Centre, according to Sun Bawm, the senior vice-president of the Bawm Social Welfare Association.

The association collected Tk 10,000 to help them, and they will receive the money on Saturday.

The administration is providing support to them, and they will be taken care of until they can return home, Sun said.

Uhla Mong Marma, chairman of the local Paindu union council, said they were keeping a record of the people who left the village.

The army and the Rapid Action Battalion have been conducting a joint operation for months after reports of activities of separatist and Islamist groups emerged.

Since October last year, dozens of tribal families have left their villages following the joint forces' operation against the separatist group Kuki-Chin National Front or KNF, locally known as the Bawm Party, and the new militant outfit Jamatul Ansar Fil Hindal Sharqiya in Ruma and Rowangchhari Upazilas amid political divisions and violence between the regional parties in the hills. Shootouts were also reported during the operation.

At the end of January, members of the Marma and Bawm ethnic groups from several villages in Ruma left their hillside homes and relocated to the town.

At least 51 Marma and 20 Bawm families from Paindu sought refuge in the Marma Welfare Association’s hall room and the Bawm Community Centre located in Ruma Bazar. They later returned to their villages.

At the beginning of March, gunfights led to the closure of at least six government primary schools in Bandarban’s Ruma as panicked residents stopped sending their children to the institutions.

Police said around 300 to 400 people went to India and took shelter in their relatives’ homes there.

Locals said the Jhum farmers, who provide food to the hill people throughout the year, suffer the most due to the situation.

The organisations seeking control of the hilly areas deny any wrongdoing, blaming each other for deadly gunfights.

Police said some of those killed on Thursday night had camouflage uniforms like the armed forces.

No one revealed the names of the sides involved in the latest incident.

Uthuli Khyang, a former headman for Khamtang Para who fled with his family on Thursday night, told bdnews24.com over the phone they heard heavy gunshots in the hills while preparing to go to sleep after dinner.

“We panicked and fled. Many took shelter in the forests and left the place after sunrise. Some went to Ruma and the others to Rowangchhari.”

He said they could not see who were involved in the gunfight in the dark of the night.

Sari Khyang, daughter of the current headman of the village, said many of them took shelter at the church at night because it is built of bricks. They walked for three hours in the morning to reach Chandapara, from where the locals sent them to Ruma by cars.

Shoi Bla Pru Khyang, another resident of the village, said he was not keen to leave because his family has a large cache of wood. “We left after seeing others flee.”

“I want to return home as soon as possible. The hill people cannot live withouts hills.”

‘Va Te Kuki’, a Facebook page purportedly run by the Kuki-Chin National Front, identified seven of the dead as its members.

It alleged a reformist group backed by the government killed the KNF members, pointing the finger at United People’s Democratic Front (Ganatantrik), a breakaway faction of UPDF.

bdnews24.com could not independently verify the claims.

Police said they were unaware of the Facebook page.

Uba Mong Marma, general secretary of the Bandarban unit of UPDF (Ganatantrik), denied the allegations raised by the Bawm Party. “Our group is not an armed one. We believe in pushing for our demands systematically and democratically.”

UPDF, led by Prasit Khisa, sent a statement to local journalists, condemning the shootout.

[Writing in English by Osham-ul-Sufian Talukder and Arshi Fatiha Quazi]