Violence in Myanmar forces 14 border guards to seek asylum in Bangladesh

Dhaka, Feb 4 (PTI) At least 14 members of Myanmar's paramilitary Border Guard Police (BGP) have sought refuge in Bangladesh after escaping the junta-run country amid reports of heavy gunfights between the government troops and the rebel resistance fighters, officials said here on Sunday. The soldiers entered through the Tambru border in predawn hours and sought shelter from the Bangladesh Border Guard (BGB).

“The 14 members of their BGP fled their country. They are now in our custody,” an official of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) told reporters on Sunday at the southeastern Cox’s Bazar, bordering Burma. Asked about the matter, Minister of Home Affairs Asaduzzaman Khan said, “There are about 14 of them. They are called BGP or Border Guard Police.” “As you know, they have been fighting with the Arakan Army. At one point, they came here and took shelter. We are speaking to the Myanmar government about the matter," bdnews24.com quoted Khan as saying.

Residents in several frontier Bangladesh villages moved to safety amid skirmishes between the Myanmar government troops and the rebel Arakan Army.

Several mortar shells and bullets landed inside Bangladesh in the past several days though no casualty was reported.

Bangladesh ordered an intensified security vigil on its border with Myanmar amid skirmishes.

According to reports and analysts, the resistance movement in Myanmar gained momentum three years after a coup ended a short-lived experiment with democracy.

Bangladesh’s border with Myanmar stretches 271.0 kilometres (168.4 miles).

Bangladesh played a critical role in sheltering over a million Muslim minority Rohingyas who fled their home in Rakhine state to evade persecution, particularly after a 2017 army crackdown but the current crisis has little to do with the Rohingyas. PTI