C T Online Desk: After a prolonged silence, intermittent gunfire was again heard across the Bandarban’s Gumdum border in Naikhongchhari near Rakhine region, prompting the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) to remain on high alert.
From midnight until morning on Monday, residents living near the border reported hearing intense gunfire.
They said that clashes may have erupted between the Arakan Army, a Rakhine-based group, and another rebel faction in Myanmar’s Rakhine state.
This assumption arises because there are two Arakan Army camps located just across the Tumbro area of the Gumdhum border.
Lt Colonel SM Khairul Alam, commander of the 34th Battalion of BGB in Cox’s Bazar, citing local sources, said that the gunfire was reported near pillars 34 to 35 along the zero line inside Myanmar territory, approximately 300 to 330 meters from the border, during the midnight hours.
BGB personnel are maintaining a vigilant posture along the border.
However, he suspects that the gunfire may have resulted from clashes between the Arakan Army and other separatist groups such as the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (Arsa) or the Rakhine Salvation Organization (RSO).
For a long time, the Arakan Army, an insurgent group seeking independence, has been waging war against Myanmar’s military junta for control over Rakhine.
Most recently, in December 2024—more than a year after initiating resistance in October 2023—the Arakan Army claimed full control over the entire 271km section of the Myanmar-Bangladesh border area within Rakhine state.
Following nearly five months of relative calm, the sounds of gunfire suddenly resurfaced on Monday.
