The Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of Chattogram Medical College Hospital. Several men and women are waiting outside. Some are engrossed in prayer, while others are weeping openly.
They are anxiously awaiting news of nine year old Huzaifa Afnan, who is undergoing treatment in the ICU after being shot in the head.
This scene was observed at around 8.00 pm on Sunday evening during a visit to Chattogram Medical College Hospital. After waiting for some time, Huzaifa’s uncle, Mohammad Ershad, was seen emerging from the ICU.
With a weary face and downcast eyes, he spoke to the relatives waiting outside and updated them on Huzaifa Afnan’s condition.
He told them that his niece's condition was not good and that doctors would perform surgery.
Huzaifa was injured by gunfire fired from Myanmar’s Rakhine State, near the Bangladesh border, at around 9.00 am on Sunday.
At approximately 6.00 pm the same day, she was taken to the ICU of Chattogram Medical College Hospital, where she has been placed on life support.
Later that night, ICU doctors said that the bullet had entered Huzaifa’s brain.
Air strikes, drone attacks, mortar shelling and bomb explosions continue unabated in Myanmar’s Rakhine State. For the past three days, the junta forces have intensified air strikes on positions of the armed group Arakan Army (AA) in areas surrounding Maungdaw Township.
At the same time, three Rohingya armed groups have become involved in ground clashes with the Arakan Army. As a result, the situation along the border is becoming increasingly complex.
Powerful explosions across the border are shaking villages in Teknaf, while bullets fired from the other side are landing on homes, shrimp farms and the Naf River on this side of the border.
Huzaifa’s uncle, Mohammad Ershad, said, “On Saturday night, people in the area were terrified by the sound of gunfire throughout the night. We also stayed inside our house. On Sunday morning, seeing that the situation had become somewhat calm, I went outside. Shortly afterwards, my niece also went out to play. At that time, he went close to the road. Then firing started again across the border and a bullet entered his head after passing by the side of his face.”
This morning, professor Harun Or Roshid, head of the department of Anaesthesia and ICU at Chattogram Medical College Hospital, spoke to Prothom Alo.
He said, “Surgery was carried out until 4.00 am. However, the bullet has not been removed. It is lodged in the brain and removing it would be risky. Nevertheless, the pressure on the brain has been reduced.”