Published November 26, 2005

The Bangladeshi army destroyed three Arakanese guerrillas camps in a special operation on the Bangladesh-Burma border on November 24, said several newspaper’s reports yesterday.

According to sources, 7 riffles, different parts of firearms and some documents from the camps were seized by the Bangladeshi army. However, there were not any exchanges of fire between the Bangladeshi army and Arakan guerrillas.

The Bangladeshi army launched the operation with 900 troops on November 8 to crack down the Arakanese guerrilla groups that are illegally residing in Bangladeshi territory.

The destroyed camps were located near the upper reaches of the Sangu River close to Burma,183 kilometers south of the Bandaban District town in Bangladesh.

According to the Daily Star report on 25 November, three Arakanese rebels groups are active in deep forests along the border and are from the Democratic Party of Arakan (DPA), the Arakan Army (AA) and the Arakan Liberation Party.

Arakanese guerrilla groups used to set up temporary tents for gathering heavy arms and explosives there, the report said.

However, the Arakanese guerrilla groups have not gathered modern arms for their army in the border area since the Arakan army commander, General Khaing Raza, and other six leaders were assassinated in cold blood by the Indian army on Andaman Island of India in 1998, local sources said.

The Bangladeshi army claimed that there is no possibility of the existence of any foreign guerrilla groups in Bangladesh after the frequent operations of the security forces, said a newspaper report.

According to sources, the operation of the Bangladeshi army on the Burma-Bangladesh border will only last 20 days and will end next week.