UPDATE - Myanmar shells kill 2 in Bangladesh as clashes intensify between junta, rebels

UPDATES WITH DEATHS IN BANGLADESH DUE TO MORTAR SHELLS FROM MYANMAR, BANGLADESHI FOREIGN MINISTER STATEMENT ON REPATRIATION OF MYANMAR MILITARY PERSONNEL; CHANGES HEADLINE, DECK, LEDE

By SM Najmus Sakib

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AA) — Mortar shells fired from Myanmar killed two people in Bangladesh on Monday as clashes escalated between the junta-ruled Southeast Asian country's military and rebel groups within its borders.

Two people were killed after mortar shells fired from Myanmar fell in the Ghumdhum border area of Bangladesh's southeastern Bandarban district, the officer-in-charge at the police station in the Naikhongchhari region, Abdul Mannan, confirmed to Anadolu.

One of the two victims was a Bangladeshi woman, 55, while the other was the 65-year-old Rohingya from.

The Rohingya man, living in the Cox's bazar Rohingya refugee camp, was working as a laborer in the woman's agricultural field.

Three Bangladeshis had been injured by stray bullets fired from Myanmar on Sunday amid the escalating clashes across the border, the police officer added.

The death of the two civilians killed in Bangladesh on Monday came as at least three ethnic armed groups, known as the Brotherhood Alliance, have been fighting the junta regime for control of northern Myanmar since late October.

Hundreds of Burmese soldiers have escaped to Bangladesh and India in recent weeks, while many people have been killed in the escalating ethnic conflict.

Last month, injuries due to shells fired from Myanmar were also reported in southern Yunnan province of China in the north.

The internal armed conflict has forced the internally displaced Rohingya from Myanmar's Rakhine state to flee to Bangladesh in a new wave of forced migration in search of safety, refuge, and food.

Many have crossed into the Rohingya refugee camp in southeastern Cox's Bazar, where 1.2 million Muslims from Myanmar have already sought refuge.

Mohammad Nur Hashem, a Rohingya Majhi, or community leader, in Cox's Bazar, told Anadolu by phone that "hundreds of Rohingya have gathered along the Bangladesh border in southeastern Bandarban and Transboundary Naf River."

"We confirm that some Rohingya have taken refuge in the Kutupalong and Balukhali camps in Cox's Bazar through illegal border crossing. The dire situation in Myanmar forced the new influx," said Hashem.

UN human rights chief Volker Turk also said last week that the ongoing armed conflict between Myanmar's junta and opposition armed groups had a significant impact on the suffering Rohingya community.

Hashem said, "Over a hundred Rohingya already reached different camps in Cox’s Bazar in the last two months."

Mohammed Rezuwan Khan, who lost contact with his sibling in Rakhine state, told Anadolu that "some of his relatives in Rakhine have been internally displaced as junta military conducted drive mostly in Muslim villages."

Earlier, at least 100 Burmese border police personnel fled to Bangladesh, including 95 on Sunday and a few others on Monday.

Bangladeshi Foreign Minister Hasan Mahmud said Myanmar wanted to take back their fleeing security personnel.

"Process is under way to send them back," the minister told reporters in the capital Dhaka, where he met Myanmar's ambassador to the country.

Last month, 276 Burmese soldiers from Myanmar sought refuge in India's northeastern state of Mizoram.

Since last October, opposition armed groups have attacked junta forces that rule the Buddhist-majority Southeast Asian nation in ethnic clashes centered primarily in northern Myanmar, including Shan and Rakhine states.

They have captured many towns and outposts.

Earlier in mid-January, China brokered a cease-fire between warring parties and the ruling military junta.

The ongoing conflict is the world’s most violent with 2.6 million people remaining displaced and more than 18 million in need, according to Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project.