Two held with weapons during RAB raid on ‘ARSA hideout’ in Cox’s Bazar

'ARSA members opened fire when they noticed that the RAB had surrounded the hideout,' a spokesman says

The Rapid Action Battalion says it has arrested two people after a raid on a hideout of the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), an armed Myanmar insurgent group, from the Lal Pahar area of Cox’s Bazar’s Ukhiya.

The RAB-15 Cox’s Bazar Battalion conducted the operation early on Wednesday morning near the Kutupalong Rohingya Refugee Camp, said the battalion’s Assistant Director and Additional Superintendent of Police Md Abu Salam Chowdhury.

The elite force has yet to confirm the names and identities of the detainees.

“On Tuesday night, the RAB learned that members of Myanmar armed insurgent group ARSA were setting up a new hideout in the remote Lal Pahar hill area,” said RAB official Abu Salam. “Several operations then started in the area.”

“At one point the RAB personnel had surrounded a suspicious hideout when ARSA members noticed them and opened fire. The RAB returned fire in self-defence.”

Two of the ARSA members were caught as they tried to flee the shootout. The ARSA hideout was searched afterwards and large amounts of weapons, grenades, and rocket shells were recovered, the RAB official said.

The RAB conducted operations at the scene and the surrounding area until 8:45am, he added.

Additional details on the operations will be made available at a press conference at noon.