2 more Rohingya shot dead in Bangladeshi refugee camp

By SM Najmus Sakib

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AA) – Two more Rohingya men were shot dead early Thursday inside a refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, just a day after a Rohingya activist was gunned down in the camp.

A group of armed and masked men barged into refugee camp-17 and opened fire at Rohingya men, killing one of them on the spot and injuring the other critically who died in the hospital, S.M. Ishtiaque Shahriar, a local official, told Anadolu Agency.

The victims were identified as Ayat Ullah, 40, and Yasin, 30. The motive of the killings could not be known immediately.

“Security has been beefed up and police have started an operation to arrest the killers,” he added.

In the last 13 days, six Rohingya men have been killed, including a Rohingya youth leader who was shot dead inside a camp on Wednesday.

The Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) was allegedly behind these killings, according to police and Rohingya refugees.

The ARSA, formerly known as Harakah al-Yaqin, is a Rohingya insurgent group active in northern Rakhine State, Myanmar.

Earlier on Wednesday, talking to Anadolu Agency, several Rohingya Majhi (community leaders), requesting not to be named, said they are not sharing details with the media because they also fear being killed.

According to official data, over 120 refugees have been killed in camps over the last five years. The European Rohingya Council earlier expressed concern over the killings.

Bangladesh currently hosts more than 1.2 million Rohingya, mainly in Cox’s Bazar refugee camps, who fled a brutal military crackdown in their home country Myanmar's Rakhine State in August 2017.