Rohingyas wounded in Myanmar crackdown among new refugees in Bangladesh; 1 dead

Fresh army crackdown on alleged insurgents following attacks on security forces inside Myanmar has triggered off a new wave of Rohingya influx into Bangladesh.

Many of the Rohingyas that entered Bangladesh after the attacks in Myanmar early on Friday are injured, some of them carrying bullet-wound.

They have been admitted to hospitals in Cox's Bazar and Chittagong.

One of them died at Chittagong Medical College Hospital on Saturday, police said.

More than 12 Rohingyas hit by the bullet were admitted to Médecins Sans Frontières hospital on Saturday.

One of them, identifying himself as Kamal Hossain from Dhumbarida in Myanmar's Maungdaw, said the army cordoned off the Rohingya villages and were shooting at innocent civilians.

"They are shooting at people and torturing whoever they see," he said and added that 'many' died in shooting by the security forces.

He fled to Bangladesh after receiving the bullet injury early on Friday.

Abdus Shafi, a Rohingya living at Kutupalong Refugee Camp, said he saw five families taking refuge at the unregistered refugee camp there early in the morning on Saturday.

He said he heard at least 50 families joined the old residents of the camp after Friday.

bdnews24.com spoke to Rohingyas Noor Nahar, Rafiq and Kohinoor, who came to the unregistered camp from Maungdaw's Dhenkibuniya, after Friday's violence.

They said the Myanmar Army, joined by local Buddhists, were killing and torturing even Rohingya women and children.

There is no official figure how many Rohingyas have entered Bangladesh since Friday, but the old residents of the camps said the number would be more than 1,000.

Security was beefed up at the border after shootings occurred on the other side on Saturday afternoon, said Lt Col Manjurul Hassan Khan, commander of Border Guards Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar 34 Battalion.

“They fired three to four rounds around 1:15pm,” he told bdnews24.com. “There were no casualties.”

The Myanmar Border Guard Police, or BGP, fired at the Rohingyas seeking refuge on the border with Bandarban’s Naikhyangchhari Upazila.

Rohingyas have attempted to flee across the border into Bangladesh since Friday after insurgents attacked 30 police posts in the border state of Rakhine and killed 12 Myanmar security personnel. Seventy-seven insurgents have reportedly been killed in the attacks.

Several thousand Rohingyas are currently occupying a four-mile stretch on the shore of the Naf River in Cox’s Bazar’s Ukhia, awaiting decisions from Bangladesh authorities.

BGB officer Khan said the border guards sent back most of the Rohingyas who crossed the border into Bangladesh.

The Rohingya minority in Myanmar has faced persecution for many years. Myanmar has not recognised calls from the global community, including the UN, to ensure and protect the human rights of the Rohingyas.

Around 87,000 Rohingyas joined hundreds of thousands of refugees in Bangladesh after the Myanmar army crackdown on militants following an attack on a police post in October last year.