Arakan News Agency
Bangladesh has intensified its patrols on the border with Myanmar following reports that 1,000 Rohingya Muslims have crossed into the country over the past two weeks amid fresh tensions in the northwestern state of Arakan.
Security forces in the mainly Buddhist Myanmar launched a major security crackdown in the state bordering Bangladesh after some gunmen killed nine policemen in October last year but the flow of refugees to Bangladesh slowed until hundreds of additional troops were deployed recently.
“No one will be allowed to cross illegally into our country,” Mansur al-Hasan Khan, a senior border guard official in Bangladesh, told Reuters, adding that the two countries were involved in patrolling the border areas.
He said the flow had not been huge recently and noted that the border area was calm with more joint patrols planned for the week.
A senior UN official in Bangladesh said there was a continuation of the “slow transit movement of people across the border.”
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, estimated that about 1,000 families crossed each month in April, May and June.
He said the figure had risen to 1,300 in July, adding that the border area “will definitely see more newcomers” in August.
