DHAKA: After over 2,000 Rohingya refugees got into Bangladesh’s territory, hundreds of them are still waiting in the no man’s land to enter the country.
There is a sudden splurge in the number of Rohingyas fleeing to Bangladesh after the blood-shed in the Rakhine State of Myanmar continues, The Daily Star reported.
“We heard sounds of heavy gunfire near the Toombro border under Naikhyangchhari upazila,” The Daily Star quoted chairman of Ghumdhum union Zahangir Aziz, as saying.
“Hundreds of Rohingya refugees were waiting near Toombro border trying to enter Bangladesh territory,” he added.
A local public representative confirmed that 2,000 Rohingyas entered Bangladesh through different points of Naikhyangchhari.
“Around 2,000 to 2,500 Rohingyas got into Bangladesh from Myanmar this evening [yesterday],” chairman of Ghumdum Union Parishad Md Zahangir Alam said.
One of the refugees, 48-year-old Mujibur Rahaman, who fled along with five family members from the Dekibunia area of Maungdaw in Rakhine, said, “The Myanmar Army and the Myanmar Border Guard Police (BGP) have been torching our houses and showering bullets.”
“We have entered Bangladesh to save our life,” he added.
Earlier, the Myanmar Army chief, Min Aung Hlaing, said that at least 32 people were killed, including 11 Myanmar security personnel after alleged Rohingya militants attacked remote border posts in the Rakhine State.
The Rakhine State is home to the Rohingya community of Myanmar, ethnic Muslims, who have long faced persecution in the Buddhist-majority country, especially from the country's Buddhist extremists.