Two Rohingya killed in alleged shootout with Bangladesh Border Guard

Two suspected drug peddlers have been killed in a so-called shootout with Border Guard Bangladesh or BGB in Cox's Bazar Teknaf Upazila.

The border protection force could not immediately identify the dead men but suspect they were members of the Rohingya community.

Mohammad Faisal Hasan Khan, the commanding officer of the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) in the Teknaf sub-district of Cox’s Bazar, said that in early hours on Friday a group of Rohingya were crossing a river on the border by boat when border guards challenged them and asked them to surrender.

“But instead of surrendering they responded with fire arms,” Hasan said.

About four or five drug smugglers were entering Bangladeshi waters on a boat through the river's Jaliyapara Point from Myanmar's side early on Friday morning, said BGB official Faisal.

BGB troopers chased the drug smugglers prompting them to open fire on the border security personnel. The BGB troopers retaliated but in the meantime the men on the boat managed to make it across the zero line to the other side, according to the officer.

Two bullet-ridden men were later found lying on the ground and were rushed to Teknaf Upazila Health Complex, according to the BGB. They were then taken to Cox's Bazar Sadar Hospital where doctors on duty declared them dead, said Faisal.

Upon combing the area, BGB personnel recovered 70,000 yaba tablets, a gun, two bullets and a sharp weapon, he added

More than 730,000 Rohingya refugees live in Bangladesh, having fled persecution in neighbouring Myanmar where security forces are accused of carrying out killings, gang rape and arson in a crackdown after attacks on police posts by Rohingya insurgents in August 2017.