Around 2,000 new Rohingya refugees enter Bangladesh

DHAKA, Bangladesh

More than 2,000 new Rohingya refugees have entered Bangladesh since the collapse of Sheikh Hasina's government on Aug. 5, which led to several Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) personnel abandoning their posts due to fears of public retribution.

The new refugees have taken shelter mostly in three out of 27 camps, Anadolu found out after talking with refugee community leaders and officials.

BGB officials have acknowledged the significant influx of refugees but have indicated that they are actively working to prevent additional arrivals.

“We have detained at least two dozen new Rohingya refugees today,” a BGB commander, who wished to remain unnamed, told Anadolu on Saturday. The detainees were held at a makeshift checkpoint, as observed by Anadolu.

Sunday marks the seventh anniversary of the Rohingya crisis that began on Aug. 25, 2017, when approximately a million Rohingya refugees fled Myanmar to Bangladesh to escape a military-led pogrom.

Anadolu visited three Rohingya camps on Saturday and spoke with at least 30 new refugees who have arrived after Aug. 5.

On Bangladesh's eastern border, the advance of the Arakan Army into Maungdaw district has forced thousands of Rohingyas to flee.

Hundreds of refugees have died crossing the Naf River and the nearby border. On Aug. 5, a series of drone strikes reportedly targeted civilians fleeing the fighting and violence in their villages in Maungdaw.

Abdus Sabur lost all his children, including four-year-old twins, while attempting to cross the river amid heavy bombing on Aug. 5. Sabur fled Maungdaw's downtown after it was encircled by the Arakan Army from three sides earlier this month.

“The last of the Myanmar army and some armed Rohingya forces withdrew on Aug. 3, so we decided to flee to Bangladesh,” Sabur told Anadolu. “But all my children drowned in the rough waters of the Naf River. Only my wife and I survived.”

Unverified reports estimate the death toll at around 200 people. If confirmed, this would be one of the deadliest attacks on civilians in Myanmar's three-year civil war, which began after the military coup in 2021.

Pro-democracy guerrillas and ethnic minority armed groups, including the Arakan Army, have been fighting to remove the military rulers who took power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in 2021.