Five killed, Over 100 Wounded, Over 100 Arrested in
Police-Refugee
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Kaladan Press Network
Cox’s Bazar, November 19: At least
five refugees were killed, over 100
wounded and more than 100 arrested
Nov. 18 in a violent clash between
refugees and police at Kutupalong refugee camp at Ukhiya
Upazila in
Cox’s Bazar district, said a
refugee leader who prefered not to
mention his name.
The trouble erupted at about
holding a meeting against their
forced repatriation to
Kutupalong Refugee Camp, the
refugee leader said.
On hearing the meeting was being held, Camp-in-charge
Mohammad Nurul
Alam Chowdhury
and police officer Mohammad Wahid, with cooperation of
police and ansars
(village security), went to the meeting place and
ordered the refugees not to hold
such meetings in the camp, and
arrested refugee leader Mohammad Issique, a schoolteacher. Afterwards,
a clash started between police and
refugees as refugees tried to
rescue Mohammad Issique, a majee (barracks
leader) in the camp said.
During the clash, a stone hit the police officer's head and
the camp
in-charge escaped unhurt. At this
stage, police and ansars opened fire
on refugees by police order. Three
refugees were killed and more than
100 wounded by police. Police and ansars
fired around 200 rounds of
gunfire in the clash, but refugees
resisted by throwing stones, sticks
and hoes in self-defence, the
barracks leader said.
Over 100 refugees were arrested by police and ansars within two days.
Of these, Mohamed Sultan 60, Abul
Basher 60, Haron Rashid 45, Saleh
Ahmed 40, Abdul Amin 24, Kamal Uddin 25, Shabbir Ahmed 45, Noor Ahmed
50, Kashem Ali 48 and refugee
leader Mohamed Issique 40 said another
refugee leader was out of the camp
for his own security.
At least 90 refugees and 10 police including ansars were injured in
the clash that continued for half
an hour. Police officer Wahid was
admitted to Cox’s
ansars
were treated at the Health Center of Concern Bangladesh, an NGO
inside the refugee camp, he said.
After the clash ended, the refugees fled into the deep
forests in
nearby hills. Today there are no
male refugees in the camp, only
females, to avoid arrest by police
and ansars. Taking advantage of the
male refugee's absence, local
people nearby entered the refugee camp
early this morning and robbed the
refugees of their belongings,
according to a refugee who escaped
from the camp.
The refugees who died on the spot were Saleh
Ahamed 55, Mohamed Sadek
21, son of Molvi
Hasson, and Eshan Ullah 10, son of Kabir.
Two other
refugees died at Cox’s
treatment but their names were
unavailable as authorities controlled
information, said another refugee
who escaped from Kutupalong to Cox’s
Bazar and stayed near the
hospital.
The injured police and ansars are
police officer Mohammad Wahid 45 of
Ukhiya police station; constables Babala Bishas, Salim, Razu and
Mostafa; and ansars
Mobin, Sona Ullah and Shapan, said a police
officer from Ukhiya.
Of the over 100 refugees wounded, Kalu
Afzal, Zahaid, Alam, Aman
Ullah, Rashida
Begum the mother of two children, and Asia Khatoon
27,
wife of Hussain
and mother of five are in critical condition at Cox’s
and
Kutupalong Refugee Camp, said a
local shopkeeper near the refugee
camp.
When asked, someone at the UNHCR at Cox’s Bazar said, “Today is a
holiday, there is no staff in our
office so we are unable to give you
any information about the Kutupalong refugee camp.”
Boonshan Sangfai,
in charge of Cox’s Bazar UNHCR office, accompanied
by another UNHCR officer from
to observe the situation of the
camp, but no details are known by
anyone, a female refugee said.
At present, the situation in the camp is under control,
according to
Cox’s Bazar Deputy Commissioner M.
Habibur Rahaman. There are
over
8,000 refugees in Kutupalong
and 12,000 in the Nayapara camps.
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