DHAKA: Landmine explosions along Bangladesh's southeastern frontier with Myanmar on Sunday killed three villagers working on their plantations.
The incident sparked panic in the troubled border areas amid the grinding civil war in Myanmar, expanding its blow in the neighbouring country.
"Our initial reports suggest the landmines exploded near the no-man's-land area at Gumdhum neighbourhood along the Bangladesh-Myanmar borders," executive chief or Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Enamul Hasan of Naikhongchhari sub-district told reporters.
Paramilitary Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) commander in the area, Lieutenant Colonel Khairul Alam said the explosions severely wounded the three Bangladeshi tribesmen, who were declared dead after locals rushed them to a hospital.
Alam said without immediate elaboration that the mines had exploded this afternoon near border pillar number 42 at the Ghumdhum area.
Residents, including local journalists, said the men belonging to the Tanchanga ethnic minority community were injured in three subsequent blasts as they were working on their horticulture plantations.
Police said the bodies were initially kept by the BGB to be handed over to them for subsequent legal procedures, including autopsy.
Ghumdhum is a union, the lowest local government tier in Bangladesh, bordering Myanmar.
Its elected member Babul Chakma said most people in the area were traditionally engaged in plantation activities along the border "maintaining the zero line".
"Previously, two women lost their legs in identical mine explosions as they were extracting forest vegetables and now living an inhumane life. two men have been missing since last year from the area," Chakma said.
The mass circulation Prothom Alo and several other newspapers reported that the explosions sparked panic in the area and several people demanded measures to prevent such incidents, including unearthing hidden mines.
