Border shelling: Myanmar blames Arakan Army, ARSA

Myanmar has blamed the Arakan Army and the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) for the recent incidents of cross-border shelling. The rebels have been deliberately carrying out such attacks to put a strain on the cordial bilateral relations between Myanmar and Bangladesh.

U Zaw Phyo Win, the Director General of Myanmar Foreign Ministry, called in Bangladesh Ambassador Manjurul Karim Khan Chowdhury and told this to him during a meeting in Yangon on Tuesday.

Later, Myanmar Foreign Ministry issued a press release in this regard.

U Zaw Phyo Win, in the press release, said the Arakan Army and the ARSA attacked on local border police with mortars on Sept 16, with three shells landing inside Bangladesh territory.

They used the same weapons to attack on the border police on Sept 17. At that time, nine mortar shells fell in Bangladesh border area from Myanmar, he said.

The Director General, in the press release, also said Myanmar is taking the necessary security measures close to the border with utmost caution and it is mindful of bilateral agreements and international norms as it respects the integrity and sovereignty of all nations, including Bangladesh.

On Friday night, a 28-year-old Rohingya man named Mohammad Iqbal was killed and eight others were injured as five mortar shells fired from Myanmar exploded at a Rohingya camp on no-man’s-land near Tumbru bazar in Bandarban’s Naikhongchhari upazila.

Earlier, a Bangladeshi youth was injured after a land mine exploded inside Myanmar territory along the Naikhongchhari border area in Bandarban.

The Foreign Ministry of Bangladesh also summoned Myanmar’s ambassador to lodge protests on several occasions after mortar shells fired from across the border landed in Bandarban last month.