KNF member dies in Bandarban ‘gunfight’

The insurgent group emerged in the Chattogram Hill Tracts last year

Police in Bandarban have recovered the body of a suspected member of the Kuki-Chin National Front after what they said was a gunfight between the separatist group and Bangladesh’s security forces. 

Alamgir Hossain, chief of Ruma Police Station, said they recovered the body from a roadside ditch near Munnuyam village under Paindu Union on Sunday morning. He could not immediately confirm the identity of the dead. 

According to Alamgir, the police were alerted about a gunfight earlier on Sunday between an army contingent and some members of the armed group KNF, also known as the Bawm Party. “The suspected KNF member may have been killed during the gunfight.” 

KNF emerged in the Chattogram Hill Tracts last year. Bangladesh’s security apparatus believes that the group, feared in the region for its track record of violence, is providing arms training and logistic support to Jamatul Ansar Fil Hindal Sharqiya, a newly formed Islamist militant group.

The Bangladesh Army and the Rapid Action Battalion have been conducting a joint operation in Bandarban’s Ruma, Rowangchhari and Thanchi against Jamatul Ansar and KNF for months. 

The security forces have arrested at least 12 suspected militants of Jamatul Ansar and 13 members of the insurgency group from the hill tracts so far.