Cox’s Bazar correspondent: In the Rohingya camp, not only at night but now also during the day, the clanging of weapons is going on. Multiple conflicting Rohingya armed groups now face off in 34 camps in Ukhia-Teknaf. As evening approached, panic spread throughout the camps. Murders, abductions, disappearances, and robberies have now become normal occurrences there.
Teknaf, a tourist town in Cox’s Bazar, has now become a battleground for Myanmar’s rebel groups Arsa (Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army) and RSO (Arakan Solidarity Organization). Even the members of the law and order forces are not spared from the hands of these two terrorist groups. An intelligence agency officer has already been killed by the terrorist group. Last Friday, five members of Arsa were killed by the RSO group. In such a situation, the law enforcement forces have started an operation with a list of members of these two terrorist groups.
Recently, an intelligence agency’s list showed that armed members of two terrorist groups are staying in 34 Rohingya camps in Cox’s Bazar and Teknaf. Related sources said that members of Arsa are agitating for the repatriation of displaced Rohingyas. In this regard, most of the RSO leaders are against repatriation. The conflict between Arsa and the RSO has reached its climax. Due to this, the incidents of murder and attack between the two groups are increasing. Although law enforcement officials did not give an official statement on this matter, a source on condition of anonymity said that these two terrorist groups are involved in serious crimes including extortion, drug trade, and human trafficking. ARSA members are actively involved in arms and drug smuggling. Most of the time, they remain on the zero line even though they are registered on the camp membership list. Again, some members mingled with ordinary Rohingyas and observed the overall situation. In the last 6 years, 155 people have been killed due to dominance among themselves in different camps.
As a result of these incidents, the law enforcement forces have recovered more than 200 local and foreign firearms. In the last six years, 6,226 people have been accused in more than 2,800 cases. Among them were 115 murders, 185 weapons, 16,000 drugs, 88 rapes, and 39 kidnapping cases. Recently, an officer of an intelligence agency was killed by Arsa drug smugglers near the Zero Line. After that incident, the members of the law and order forces took a strict stand against Arsa. The law enforcement forces have made a list of these two terrorist groups. There are at least 700 names on this list.
Although the government has already taken a tough stand against them, According to the information provided by Cox’s Bazar District Police, at least one and a half hundred killings have taken place in the Rohingya camp from August 25, 2017 to June 20, 2023. Among them, on September 18, 2021, volunteer Mohammad Ilyas was killed; on September 21, a leader named Mohammad Zafar was killed; and on September 22, a volunteer named Mohammad Ershad was killed. On October 22 of that year, six people were killed in a madrasa in Camp 18. Earlier, Rohingya leader Mohibullah was killed on September 29 of the same year. On August 9, 2022, two Rohingya leaders and a volunteer from Nayapara Rohingya camp in Teknaf were killed.
On August 1 of that year, a leader died while undergoing treatment at the hospital after being shot by terrorists in the same camp. Rohingya leaders Sanaullah and Sona Ali were killed in May last year. Five members of ARSA were killed by RSO on July 7 this year.
