1 killed as six Myanmar mortar shells explode at Ghumdum
Six mortar shells fired from Myanmar exploded inside Bangladesh on the Ghumdum border in Bandarban on Friday, leaving one Rohingya dead and at least six others injured.
Dil Mohammad, a local Rohingya leader, said intense gunshots and mortar shell explosions had been heard from the Myanmar side since Friday evening. Around 8pm, four mortar shells exploded in a Rohingya camp and two other shells in a nearby area on the Ghumdum border in Naikkhangchhari upazila.
A Rohingya died and at least six were injured. The injured were sent to Cox's Bazar hospital, said a Rohingya leader Mohammad Arif. The dead could not be identified immediately.
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Ghumdum police's SI Shohag Rana said, "We do not have any information on the incident yet."
Cox's Bazar BGB 34 Battalion commander Mehedi Hossain did not answer his phone.
Earlier, a Bangladeshi youth was injured after a land mine exploded inside Myanmar territory along the Naikhongchhari border area in Bandarban on Friday.
Athwaing Tangchangya, 22, from Tumbru headman para of Ghumdum Union Parishad was injured near pillar 25 and 300 metre inside Myanmar border, said Union Parishad Chairman Jahangir Aziz.
Locals said Tangchangya went near the border area to bring his cow, which might have triggered the explosion.
Tangchangya lost his left leg in the explosion. He was first admitted to Kutupalong MSF Hospital and then shifted to Cox's Bazar Sadar Hospital.
Ghumdhum Union Parishad member Md Anowar Hossain said incidents of landmine explosion in the area take place every year.
The Border Guard Bangladesh stepped up patrols and surveillance after two unexploded mortar shells from Myanmar landed in Bangladesh territory on 28 August.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned the Myanmar envoy to Bangladesh thrice over the issue.
Dhaka lodged strong protests and expressed deep concern at air and artillery strikes landing inside Bangladeshi territory and violations of the country's air space.
The Myanmar side claimed that its military launched airstrikes after the ethnic Rakhine armed organisation, the Arakan Army, seized a police outpost on the border in Maungdaw Township in northern Rakhine State.
