Myanmar Conflict: Boats on Naf spark fear of fresh influx

Amid continuous fighting between Myanmar troops and the armed group called Arakan Army, many residents of Rakhine State have taken shelter on small boats on the Naf river along the border.

Lt Tahsin Rahman, spokesperson of the coast guard in Teknaf upazila of Cox's Bazar, said it was not known how many Myanmar nationals were living on the river that flows between the two countries.

"We are determined not to let anyone travel across the Naf and enter Bangladesh," he said, adding that around 200 Myanmar nationals were turned away at the border in recent days.

Mohammad Zubair, chairman of Arakan Rohingya Society for Peace and Human Rights, told The Daily Star that between 400 and 500 Rohingya people were on the boats after fleeing their homes in Lalbunnya area of Myanmar.

Many of these Rohingya people are contacting their relatives in Cox's Bazar camps as they are getting cellular signals from Bangladesh, he said.

He added that fierce fighting was now going on in Maungdaw township of northern Rakhine where many Rohingya people live.

Meanwhile, gunshots and shelling were heard yesterday from Teknaf town, Shahporir Dwip, Sabrang, and St Martin's Island.

Teknaf Upazila Nirbahi Officer Adnan Chowdhury said, "I heard gunshots from my residence. People living near the border are living in fear."

He added that law enforcement agencies were on high alert on the border.

Earlier this month, countless bullets and mortar shells crossed the border, forcing people to flee the neighbourhoods along the border in Bandarban. Besides causing damage to properties, the bullets and explosives claimed at least two lives and injured several others in Bangladesh territory. 

Yesterday, Noor Hossain, chairman of Sabrang Union Parishad in Teknaf, said locals were fearing yet another Rohingya influx.

He added that intermittent sounds of gunfire were heard from Sabrang until the evening and people in Shahporir Dwip saw troops firing weapons from helicopters.

Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan yesterday said arms and ammunition were recently smuggled into Bangladesh from Myanmar.

"These were in abandoned condition. The border guards seized them, and the carriers were arrested," he told reporters in Chattogram, adding that additional forces were deployed in the border areas while the coast guards, Bangladesh Navy and BGB members were directed to be on alert at all times.

THOUSANDS SEEK TO FLEE MYANMAR

Over 1,000 people lined up at the Thai embassy in Yangon yesterday as young people sought to leave Myanmar after the junta said it would impose military service, AFP reports.

The military said it would enforce a law allowing it to call up all men aged 18-35 and women aged 18-27 to serve for at least two years as it struggles to quell opposition to its 2021 coup.

The junta faces widespread armed resistance to its rule after seizing power from an elected civilian government, and recently suffered a series of stunning losses to an armed alliance of ethnic minority groups.

The Thai embassy in Yangon has been swamped with young men and women seeking visas to get out of Myanmar since the announcement last Saturday.

Yesterday, an AFP journalist saw a queue of between 1,000 and 2,000 people snaking through the streets near the mission in downtown Yangon.

The embassy said it was issuing 400 numbered tickets a day in order to manage the queue.

Student Aung Phyo, 20, told AFP he arrived at the embassy at 8:00pm on Thursday and slept in his car before starting to queue around midnight.

"We had to wait for three hours and police opened the security gate around 3:00am and we had to run to the front of the embassy to try to get places," said the man who used a pseudonym because of fears for his safety.