Myanmar conflict: 5 more BGP members take refuge in Bangladesh

Five more members of the Myanmar Border Guard Police (BGP) have taken shelter in Bangladesh amid the ongoing conflict between the Myanmar junta and the Arakan Army in Rakhine state.

They entered Bangladesh Sunday night through Kharangkhali and Jhimongkhali border under Whykong union in Teknaf said Lt Col Mohiuddin Ahmed, commanding officer of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) battalion-2 in Teknaf.

BGB seized their weapons and took them into custody, the BGB official said.

Earlier in the same day, nine BGP members took shelter in Bangladesh. Two of them were undergoing treatment as they crossed the border with injuries, he added.

On March 11, 179 BGP members took refuge in Bangladesh through the Jamchhari border in Bandarban's Naikhongchhari upazila. They are currently under BGB custody in Naikhongchhari.

On February 15, 330 Myanmar nationals, including 302 BGP officials and four of their family members, two army personnel, 18 immigration members, and four civilians, who had entered Bangladesh were returned to their country.

The conflict claimed two lives on February 5, killing a Bangladeshi woman and a Rohingya man in the explosion of a mortar shell (fired from Myanmar) in Bandarban's Ghumdhum.