Bangladesh summons Myanmar envoy after border clashes

Bangladesh on Tuesday summoned the ambassador of Myanmar after civil war gun battles in the neighbouring country spilled over the border, wounding a Bangladeshi girl. Heavy fighting in Myanmar's Rakhine state this month has involved junta soldiers, Arakan Army fighters and Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) militia guerrillas. Authorities said around a dozen villages in Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar district have been affected by the violence. Twelve-year-old Huzaifa Afnan was struck by a bullet, while a Bangladeshi fisherman had his leg ripped off after stepping on a landmine near the frontier. "Bangladesh reminded that the unprovoked firing towards Bangladesh is a blatant violation of international law and a hindrance to good neighbourly relations," a foreign ministry press statement said. Myanmar's ambassador to Bangladesh, U Kyaw Soe Moe, was summoned to the foreign ministry on Tuesday, where he expressed sincere sympathy to the injured victims and their families. "My daughter was supposed to go to school, but she is on a ventilator," Afnan's father Jasim Uddin said. "My heart is bleeding for my baby girl." More than a million Rohingya have fled their homes in Myanmar, many after a 2017 military crackdown, and now eke out a living in sprawling refugee camps just across the border in Bangladesh. ARSA, a Rohingya armed group formed to defend the persecuted Muslim minority, has been fighting the Myanmar military, as well as rival Arakan Army guerrillas. On Monday, Bangladeshi border forces detained 53 ARSA fighters who had crossed the frontier. Bangladeshi police officer Saiful Islam, commander of the local Teknaf station, said all detainees were being held in jail, except one fighter who was receiving hospital treatment for bullet wounds."These individuals have a history of living in the refugee camps in Cox's Bazar and crossing into Myanmar," Islam told AFP.

Bangladesh summons Myanmar envoy after border clashes

Cross-border fighting in Myanmar’s Rakhine State wounds civilians in Bangladesh, prompting Dhaka to summon Naypyidaw’s ambassador

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