8 dead in ethnic clashes in Bangladesh’s Bandarban district

Dhaka: Eight people were killed and several more injured after violent clashes occurred between two ethnic minority groups in the mountainous regions of Bandarban district in Bangladesh. The clashes led to a large number of local people fleeing the area, police said on Friday.

The incident took place on Thursday night in Rowangchhari upazila in Bangladesh’s south-eastern Bandarban District, which is touted as a hotbed of insurgency. There was exchange of fire in a remote corner of Roangchhari upazila (sub-district) of Bandarban late on Thursday.

“We have recovered eight bodies from the scene,” police officer Abdul Mannan said. Mannan said the bodies were brought to the upazila headquarters on Friday for autopsy and other legal formalities.

Nearly 200 people escaped from their homes following the clashes, anticipating violence among feuding groups, and took refuge at an army camp at Roangchhari, according to the local people.

The police have not been able to ascertain the reason for the clashes. But they suspect the incident involved members of the newly-formed outfit called Kuki Chin Front (KNF), which is the break-away faction of the United People’s Democratic Front (UPDF).

The UPDF is a regional political party based in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh. Chakmas form the majority ethnic group in the party.

Formed in 1998, the group claims to seek fully autonomous Hill Tracts through peaceful and democratic means. Security officials said the KNF emerged as an armed group dominated mostly by the Bom ethnic community and reportedly formed an alliance with an Islamist militant group in the hills.

The KNF claims to be representing six of the 16 ethnic minority groups of Chittagong Hill Tracts. They are demanding a separate state be formed with several sub-districts of two of the three hill districts.

“The KNF’s terrorist activities forced residents there to leave their abode and come to our (army) camp for temporary refuge. We have sheltered them and arranged their food with the help of civil administration,” Captain Fahim, an official of Bangladesh Army’s Bandarban Zone told the media.

Bangladesh’s security agencies said a manhunt was underway to track down and arrest Nathan Bome, the KNF chief. Authorities will maintain heightened security in the affected areas. In the event of further violence, they may enact movement-restrictive measures, such as imposing a curfew in the region, officials added.

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