Amidst confrontations between the Myanmar military and the armed rebel organization, Arakan Army, up to 123 additional members of the army and Border Guard Police (BGP) of Myanmar have escaped to Bangladesh.
Together with them, 229 members of the Myanmar security forces have sought sanctuary in Bangladesh thus far.
The BGP and army soldiers have entered Bangladesh through the Tumbru border in the Naikhangchhari upazila of the Bandarban district, according to Shariful Islam, the public relations officer (PRO) of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), carrying weapons and ammunition.
He added that the BGB had disarmed them and taken them to a secure location.
Members of the BGP have been seeking refuge in Bangladesh since Sunday morning, according to the BGB PRO.
The Rakhine ethnic minority movement, which aspires to autonomy from Myanmar's central government, has a well-trained and well-armed military force called the Arakan Army.
This ethnic group belongs to an armed coalition that has lately taken control of crucial terrain in the northeastern region of Myanmar. On October 27, 2023, it began a concerted operation in northern Shan state along the border with China, along with the Ta'ang National Liberation Army and the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, collectively known as the Three Brotherhood Alliance.
Since the military took control from Aung San Suu Kyi's democratic government in February 2021, this attack has been the biggest military test to yet for Myanmar's ruling class. An AP story states that the coalition claims to have taken control of more than 250 military outposts, five official border crossings, a significant city close to the Chinese border, and several other villages.
Approximately 740,000 members of the Muslim Rohingya minority fled Rakhine to seek refuge in Bangladesh due to a violent army counterinsurgency offensive in 2017. One other name for Rakhine is Arakan, which was its previous name.
End//voice7news.tv
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