DHAKA – A total of 177 Myanmar junta personnel crossed the border into Bangladesh amid heavy fighting between junta forces and the ethnic Arakan Army in neighboring Rakhine State on Monday.
The exodus of troops seeking shelter in the hilly border district of Bandarban was led by a group of 29, some uniformed and some in civilian clothing, according to Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) and Bandarban administration officials.
“Our security forces are disarming them,” said Bandarban district deputy commissioner Shah Mujahid Uddin.
A senior Bangladeshi official told The Irrawaddy that Dhaka is coordinating with the Myanmar mission in Bangladesh to repatriate them.
The BGB was collecting personal details of the troops to identify their rank and file.
It did not share details about weapons confiscated from the troops or where they were sheltering.
A senior BGB official said the Myanmar personnel had travelled from deep inside the Myanmar border.
They were trapped in different pockets during fighting with the Arakan Army (AA), the official added.
The Arakan Army has seized over 170 junta strongholds and some nine towns in Rakhine and neighboring Chin State since Nov. 13 last year.
The latest exodus of junta forces in Rakhine comes less than a month after 330 defeated junta troops and civilians were repatriated from Bangladesh by the Myanmar navy on Feb. 15.
The troops had fled fighting in Rakhine between February 4 and 10 and were sheltered in makeshift facilities.
After sending them back on condition that Myanmar refrain from punishing the troops for fleeing the battlefield, BGB director-general Major General Mohammad Ashrafuzzaman Siddiqui declared that no more troops would be allowed to cross the border from Rakhine State.
