AFP – Fighting in Myanmar raged close to the Bangladesh border on Sunday, with terrified residents reporting bullets crossing the frontier, medics treating patients and the government saying guards had fled seeking shelter.
Aid agency Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said its medics in Cox’s Bazar had “received a large number of patients, following fighting at the Bangladesh-Myanmar border”.
Bangladesh Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan said at least 14 border officers from neighbouring Myanmar’s restive Rakhine state “entered our territory for self-protection” ahead of advancing rebel Arakan Army (AA) fighters.
However, Bangladesh’s private broadcaster Channel 24 said the number of guards was higher, reporting at least 66 officers had sought shelter, including 10 with bullet wounds.
“The AA has captured many areas of Rakhine state one after another,” Khan told reporters in Dhaka.
“According to our information, they are advancing forward.”
Parts of Myanmar near the 270-kilometre border with Bangladesh – as well as neighbouring India to the north – have seen frequent clashes since November, when AA fighters ended a ceasefire that had largely held since a 2021 coup.
In October, an alliance including AA insurgents and other ethnic minority fighters launched a joint offensive across northern Myanmar, seizing vital trade hubs on the Chinese border.
Last month, the alliance announced a China-mediated ceasefire, but it does not apply to areas near the Bangladeshi and Indian border, where fighting continues.
Khan said Bangladesh had bolstered security along its border, and would contact Myanmar to return the guards.
“Whoever enters inside our border, we will detain and hand them over to Myanmar,” he said.
