Another mortar shell found in vegetable patch at Ghumdhum border
Yet another mortar shell has been found in a vegetable path at the Paschimkul area of Ghumdhum union in Naikhangchhari upazila, Bandarban, along the border with Myanmar. The mortar shell was found a 6:30 this (Saturday) morning by a resident of Paschimkul, Halima Begum, in her vegetable patch.
Yesterday, Friday, a mortar shell had been found in a paddy field in the same area. On Thursday afternoon another mortar shell had been found in a marsh at Nayapara, Ghumdhum. The mortar shell found at Nayapara, in the meantime, has been defused.
The local people say that at around 6:30 this (Saturday) morning, Halima Begum gone to work at her vegetable field. She found the mortar shell there and carried it home. The local people said this was an "unexploded mortar shell" and left it by the Tumbru road. Later Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) members of the Tumbru border observation post (BOP) placed red flags on either side of the mortar shell by the road.
During a visit to the site at 9:30 Saturday morning, the mortar shell was seen lying on the road, cordoned off by bamboos and red flags. People are using the old road on one side as an alternative route to commute by battery-run and CNG-run auto-rickshaws. The vegetable patch where the mortar shell was found is about 15 to 20 metres away from the Myanmar border. On the other side of the border there is the Myanmar Border Guard Police (BGP) Tumbru Right Camp.
The local people say that at around 5:00 in the afternoon of 2 February, the rebel Arakan Army had taken control of the camp. On the same day, 68 members of BGP fled for their lives and crossed over the border into Bangladesh.
Resident of Paschimkul, Syedul Amin (40), said one mortar shell after the other are being found in the area. These mortar shells are all unexploded. This has created alarm among the people.
Ghumdhum union parishad (UP) chairman Jahangir Aziz said, three unexploded mortar shells have been found since Thursday. Earlier on Monday a mortar shell landed in Jalpaitali village, killing too and injuring one. The alarm is not subsiding, with mortar shells continuously been found here and there.