DHAKA, Bangladesh – Bangladesh increased border security with Myanmar after tensions between the two countries erupted over the death of a Rohingya teen in shelling by Myanmar.
According to acting Foreign Secretary Md Khurshed Alam, a retired rear admiral, the government has alerted the Border Guard Bangladesh and the Coast Guard. Still, it has no immediate plans to deploy the army.
“The BGB and the Coast Guard have been ordered to remain vigilant and to send necessary reinforcements, if necessary,” he told reporters following a high-level border security meeting on Sunday.
On Friday, a Rohingya teenager was killed, and several others were injured when mortar shells fired from Myanmar exploded in Bangladeshi territory, escalating the conflict between Myanmar’s military and the Arakan Army, insurgents fighting for ethnic minorities’ self-determination in the Rakhine state. In Bandarban’s Ghumdhum, a Bangladeshi man was also injured in a mine explosion near the border.
Local authorities are considering relocating 300 Rohingya refugee families in the face of continuous shelling and bullet fire into Bangladesh territory from across Myanmar’s borders.
