Crime & Justice

4 killed in internal clashes in Rohingya refugee camp in Bangladesh

Dhaka, Oct 6 (efe-epa).- At least four people were killed in clashes between rival groups inside a Rohingya refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar, in southeastern Bangladesh on Tuesday, officials said.

“We recovered four dead bodies from Lambasia area. All of them are Rohingya and men. They had a gunfight between them around evening time,” Cox’s Bazar additional superintendent of police, Mohammad Rafiqul Islam, told EFE.

Islam further said that additional police forces have been deployed in the large refugee camps to bring the situation under control.

“We suspect it is their internal clash. But the situation is under control as there are no clashes now,” he said.

Islam said a total of seven Rohingyas have been killed since Friday in similar clashes between Rohingya groups but did not provide further details.

On Monday, local newspaper New Age, citing an unnamed security official, reported that Rohingya groups had been engaged in tussles over the collection of extortion money from the markets and shops inside the camps.

In recent days, the situation worsened due to the increasing prevalence of Yaba or methamphetamine dealings inside the camp.

Myanmar does not recognize the Rohingya community that has been living in northern Myanmar for generations, as one of the nation’s ethnic groups and considers them illegal Bangladeshi immigrants, subjecting them to various kinds of discrimination, including restrictions on freedom of movement.

In August 2017, the Myanmar Army launched an offensive in the Rakhine region following a series of attacks on government posts by Rohingya insurgent group.

The United Nations’ highest court described the offensive as “ethnic cleansing” and said there were indications of a “genocide.”

The brutal military operation led to the exodus of nearly 738,000 Rohingya refugees to neighboring Bangladesh, where they live in the largest refugee camp on earth, along with other Rohingya who fled in previous waves of violence.

Some 400,000 Rohingyas remain in Rakhine, confined in their villages or in displacement camps.

Myanmar does not use the term Rohingya and also does not recognize this ethnic minority group as citizens, arguing they are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. EFE-EPA

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