Five Muslims injured in ARSA-RSO shootout at Bangladesh refugee camp

By Admin 18 Oct 2024

DMG Newsroom
18 October 2024, Sittwe

At least five Muslim refugees were injured on Thursday in a shootout between the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) and the Rohingya Solidarity Organization (RSO) at a refugee camp in the Cox's Bazar district of Bangladesh.

The refugees were injured by bullets during an exchange of fire between ARSA and RSO militants at the Ukhiya refugee camp on October 17.

"ARSA and RSO members are constantly in and out of the refugee camps, and there is also recruitment. The refugees were injured as they opened fire on each other," said a source on the Myanmar-Bangladesh border.

The injured have been identified as Hamidah, 50, Abullah, 18, Mohammed Yunas, 25, Mohammad Bilay, 39, and Omerfred, 30. They are reportedly being treated at a hospital run by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in Kutupalong.

According to a border source, concern is rising among Muslim refugees in the aftermath of the shooting incident.

Refugees have told DMG that ARSA and RSO members are forcibly recruiting Muslim refugees in Bangladesh, and at times abducting or killing those who object.

The Rohingya militant groups are also a concern on the Myanmar side of the border, where they are fighting alongside Myanmar's military regime against the Arakkha Army (AA) in northern Arakan State.

"ARSA and RSO are causing trouble for the people," said a Maungdaw resident. "There is also an uncomfortable attitude between them. ARSA and RSO have been killing Arakanese and local ethnic people in Maungdaw and Buthidaung, and these groups have become a concern for the people."

ARSA and RSO members have carried out attacks against ethnic Arakanese, Mro, Khami, Thet and Hindu populations living in Buthidaung, Maungdaw, and along the Mayu mountain range.