Two Rohingya camp leaders killed in Bangladesh

Police spokesman Faruk Ahmed says the 2 Rohingya leaders had been killed at Camp 13 in one of many worst assaults in latest months.

A Rohingya refugee camp in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh
A Rohingya refugee camp in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh [File: Showkat Shafi/Al Jazeera]

A mob of a dozen individuals hacked to loss of life two Rohingya group leaders in Bangladesh as safety worsens in camps housing nearly a million refugees.

Police spokesman Faruk Ahmed mentioned the Rohingya leaders had been killed late on Saturday at Camp 13, calling it one of many worst assaults in latest months.

“Greater than a dozen Rohingya miscreants hacked Maulvi Mohammad Yunus, 38, who's the pinnacle majhi of Camp 13. In addition they killed Mohammad Anwar, 38, one other majhi. Yunus died on the spot and Anwar died at a hospital,” mentioned Ahmed.

“Majhi” is a time period for a Rohingya camp chief.

A senior officer of an elite police unit tasked with safety within the camps blamed the killings on the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Military (ARSA), an armed group combating the navy in Myanmar.

“These are focused killings by ARSA. The interior clashes in Myanmar are impacting the safety scenario within the camps,” he mentioned, talking on situation of anonymity.

The squalid settlements have seen escalating violence in latest months, with gangs attempting to claim management over drug trafficking and intimidate the refugees’ civilian management by killings and abductions.

‘They killed my uncle’

Bangladesh has housed Rohingya refugees in an unlimited sprawl of camps since they fled a navy crackdown in Myanmar in 2017 that's now the topic of a genocide investigation on the United Nations prime courtroom.

Gangs have lengthy fought turf wars for management of the drug commerce, centred on “yaba” methamphetamine tablets, however the police chief of the Bangladeshi district of Cox’s Bazar mentioned there was an escalation happening.

“Within the final three months alone at the very least 14 Rohingyas had been murdered within the camps. The variety of murders within the camp has elevated in comparison with final yr,” Mahfuzul Islam mentioned.

A Rohingya group chief and a nephew of a kind of killed additionally blamed ARSA for the murders.

“ARSA killed my uncle final evening. My uncle used to inform them to not deal in medicine. He would supervise voluntarily patrolling within the camps. They killed my uncle,” the nephew mentioned, asking to stay nameless out of concern for his security.

ARSA has not publicly commented on Saturday’s killings.

A number of of its members earlier this yr had been charged over the homicide of prime Rohingya chief Mohib Ullah in September final yr. ARSA has denied its involvement.

The assassination despatched shockwaves by the sprawling border settlements that home a whole lot of hundreds of stateless Rohingya refugees who fled a violent crackdown in neighbouring Myanmar.

The killing of Ullah, who had been obtained on the White Home by then-President Donald Trump, additionally sparked a serious crackdown by Bangladeshi authorities, with at the very least 8,000 suspected ARSA members arrested.

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