Children seen playing with unexploded shells from Myanmar, Ghumdhum residents in panic
“Thrown from Myanmar, these rocket launcher shells are surfacing in fields, farms, and agricultural lands," said Ghumdhum Chairman Jahangir Aziz
Razia was working on her agricultural fields near Bandarban's Ghumdhum border this morning when she noticed some children were engrossed in playing with a thing that looked like a long iron rod.
Curious and alarmed, Razia took the rod-like thing from the children and took it to her home.
"My husband identified it as a weapon," said Razia while talking to The Business Standard.
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"We immediately handed it over to the BGB," she added.
Ghumdhum Chairman Jahangir Aziz confirmed these are unexploded rocket launcher shells.
"Thrown from Myanmar, these rocket launcher shells are surfacing in fields, farms, and agricultural lands," he said highlighting apprehension over children inadvertently engaging with these hazardous remnants.
Abdul Rashid, a resident echoed the same concerns and said, "No one knows how dangerous these shells are. Many locals and children are unaware of their explosive nature."
Chairman Jahangir said they discovered two rocket launcher shells this morning, and both of those have been cordoned off with red flags by the BGB.
"Two others were previously found and defused," he added.
However, he reported no sounds of gunfire across the Ghumdhum border in Bandarban.
"The last incident of gunfire occurred on Friday afternoon," he told TBS.
Gunfire resumes in Whykong border
The Whykong border area of Cox's Bazar's Teknaf upazila experienced a day of relative calm, with no gunfire reported across the Naf River.
However, since early morning today, residents once again heard the sound of gunfire and mortar shell explosions.
Whykong Chairman Nur Ahmad Anwari said, "This morning, areas along the Naf River border, including Lombabil, Unchiprang, and Kanzar Para, were rocked by intense gunfire and mortar shell explosions."
During a conflict across the border in Myanmar's Kumirkhali area, gunfire and mortar shell explosions were also heard, with several bullets landing in the Lombabil and Unchiprang areas on the Bangladesh side.
"The sounds of gunfire were heard from Thursday evening until midnight, followed by a period of silence on Friday morning until early Saturday, after which the sounds resumed sporadically," he added.
Meanwhile, Palongkhali Union Parishad Chairman Gofur Uddin Chowdhury said the situation in Palongkhali and Ukhiya remained calm as of today noon.
So far, shells and bullets fired from Myanmar resulted in the death of a Bangladeshi woman, and a Rohingya man and injured at least eight others.
[Nupa Alam is reporting from Bandarban]
