26,000 Rohingyas being shifted to Cox’s Bazar from Bandarban

The government today started shifting of 26,000 Rohingyas from Naikhongchhari area of Bandarban to Balukhali camp in Cox's Bazar.

They took shelter in Naikhongchhari upazila after Myanmar army launched ethnic cleansing of the minority group in Rakhine state in retaliation of August 25 terror attack.

"We shifted 400 Rohingya people to the Balukhali camp today. The process will continue until the rest of the Rohingyas are shifted there," Shamsuzzoha, additional relief and refugee repatriation commissioner, told our Cox's Bazar staff correspondent.

The shifting process was started around 4:00pm in presence of the deputy commissioner of Bandarban, UNO of Naikhongchhari upazila and high officials of police and Border Guard Bangladesh, he said.

The government has set up the camp on 2000 acre of land in Cox's Bazar's Ukhia as Bangladesh witnesses the huge influx of Rohingyas fleeing persecution in Myanmar's Rakhine state.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) yesterday said around 507,125 Rohingya refugees intruded into Bangladesh till September 30.