Two killed in BD as fighting rages on Myanmar border

TUMBRU, Bangladesh: At least two people were killed in Bangladesh on Monday after mortar shells fired from Myanmar during clashes there landed across the border, as terrified residents reported heavy fighting and medics treated several with gunshot wounds.

Parts of Myanmar near the 270-km border with Bangladesh have seen frequent clashes since November, when rebel Arakan Army fighters ended a ceasefire that had largely held since a 2021 coup.

Bangladeshi villagers living close to the border said they were fearful of the fighting, with aid agency Doctors Without Borders (MSF) saying they had treated 17 people wounded in the clashes on Sunday “following fighting at the Bangladesh-Myanmar border”.

“All the patients had gunshot wounds”, MSF said on Monday. “Two were in life-threatening condition, and five were seriously injured.”

Local police chief Abdul Mannan said a Bangladeshi woman, named as 48-year-old Hosne Ara, and an unnamed ethnic Rohingya man had been killed on Monday afternoon.

“They were sitting in the kitchen... when a mortar hit the place,” Ara´s daughter-in-law said, too distraught to give her name.