A number of killed in ‘gang battle’ at Rohingya camps in Bangladesh | Bangladesh

A turf war between criminal groups in the sprawling camps kills at least eight people, officials say.

A turf war between criminal armed groups in Rohingya camps in southern Bangladesh has killed at least eight people and forced thousands to flee after clashes in recent days, police and humanitarian workers said.

Authorities said Thursday they arrested 12 people after days of shooting, arson and kidnapping by gangs fighting for supremacy in the sprawling camps, the largest refugee settlement in the world.

One million Rohingya, mainly Muslim, have lived in the camps in Bangladesh since 2017, when extensive military action forced more than 730,000 of them to flee their homes in Myanmar.

“The situation there is tense,” said Rafiqul Islam, an additional chief of police in the nearest town, Cox’s Bazar, by phone to Reuters.

“Two groups are trying to establish dominance in the region,” he said, adding that they were suspected of being drug and human traffickers.

The region is known for its lucrative trade in methamphetamine, commonly used as a recreational drug and manufactured across the border in Myanmar.

More than 100 Rohingya have been killed since 2018 in incidents that human rights groups describe as extrajudicial killings. The police say, however, that the victims were caught in the “crossfire” in shootings with suspected drug smugglers.

Three refugees, speaking on condition of anonymity, named the two groups behind the fighting the “Munna” gang, named after a notorious local suspected drug lord, and the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), an armed group that worked in the Spread present is camp.

Many Rohingya refugees have accused ARSA of kidnapping and assaulting.

In a Twitter post, the group denied responsibility for the recent violence, blaming criminals for trying to ponder it.

About 2,000 Rohingya families were displaced in the recent violence, although some had returned by Thursday, according to additional commissioner for refugee aid and repatriation, Mohammad Shamsu Douza.

“We live in fear, especially at night,” one of the refugees told Reuters over the phone. “Last night a group also carried out an arson attack. Where do we go now? “

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