7 Rohingyas killed, 4 injured as two groups clash in Ukhiya

Bangladesh desk: At least seven Rohingyas were killed and four others were seriously injured as two groups of the persecuted Myanmar nationals locked in a clash at Balokhali Rohingya Camp number 18 under Ukhiya upazila in Cox’s Bazar early Friday.

The deceased were identified as Mohammad Idris, 32, of Balokhali Rohingya Camp-2, Ibrahim Hossain, 22, of Balokhali Camp-1, and Azizul Islam, 26, Mohammad Ameen, 32, Hafeez Noor Halim, 45, Hamid Ullah, 50, and Noor Kaisar, 18, of Balokhali Rohingya Camp number 18 under Ukhiya upazila.

Cox’s Bazar additional superintendent of police Rafiqul Islam said that they had arrested one Rohingya and seized firearms from his possession.

‘We received the news at about 4:45am and rushed to the spot. We found four bodies on the spot and the seven injured Rohingyas were sent to hospital,’ said an official of Ukhiya police station.

Three of the injured Rohingyas died at the hospital, he said.

He said that bodies of the deceased Rohingyas had marks of hacking and that the condition of all the four injured Rohingyas was serious.

Police officials said that the two groups locked in the clash over establishing supremacy in Rohingya camps.

Sources in the police and Rohingya community said that a group of armed Rohingyas fled from the camp areas after the killing of Rohingya leader Mohib Ullah and that the group had been trying to enter into the camps to establish their supremacy.

They said that the clash occurred as the Rohingyas declined to give the group members shelter inside the camp after Mohib Ullah murder.

Mohib Ullah, 48, who led the Arakan Rohingya Society for Peace and Human Rights, was shot dead at around 8:30pm on September 29 at his office in the Kutupalong Rohingya camp in Cox’s Bazar. Mohib Ullah had represented the Rohingya community at the United Nations Human Rights Council in 2019.