Dhaka, Feb 5 (EFE).- Clashes between the Myanmar military junta’s armed forces and pro-democracy guerrillas have led almost 100 Burmese police officers and several wounded people to seek refuge in neighboring Bangladesh, officials said Monday.
“A total of 95 of Myanmar Border Guard Police (BGP) have so far entered Bangladesh with arms following the ongoing conflict inside Myanmar,” Bangladesh Border Guard (BGB) spokesperson Shariful Islam told EFE.
The border guards were disarmed and taken to a safe shelter, he added.
A military coup on Feb.1, 2021 plunged Myanmar into a deep political, social and economic crisis and unleashed a spiral of violence with new civilian militias that have exacerbated the guerrilla war that the country has been experiencing for decades.
Clashes in Myanmar’s Rakhine state between the Arakan Army (AA), part of the so-called Brotherhood Alliance that brings together pro-democratic militias and ethnic groups, and the junta’s forces had already led dozens of border guards and several wounded to cross over into Bangladesh on Sunday.
At least seven injured Myanmar nationals are receiving medical treatment at the main hospital in the southern district of Cox’s Bazar, resident medical officer Ashikur Rahman told EFE, although he did not confirm whether they were police officers from the neighboring country.
On Sunday, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) reported that 17 patients were itted to its Kutupalong hospital for treatment amid the clashes, without disclosing details about their identity or nationality.
“All the patients had gunshot wounds. Two were in life-threatening condition, and five were seriously injured,” MSF said in a statement on Monday.
The entry of the Myanmar border guards has caused alarm among Bangladesh authorities, who on Sunday ordered security forces to block movement on the porous border between the two countries.
The fighting continued on Monday for the second consecutive day near the border with Bangladesh, Shantanu Das, the istrative head of the Bangladeshi region of Naikhangchari, in the south of the country, told EFE.
Hundreds of Bangladeshis living in border areas fled to safer zones for fear of conflict, although Dhaka has not ordered an official evacuation, and five schools will remain closed, Das said. EFE
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