3 mortar shells recovered

Members of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) yesterday recovered three unexploded mortar shells from a place near the Bangladesh-Myanmar border in Bandarban's Thanchi upazila.

Col Habibur Rahman, Bandarban BGB sector commander, said one of their patrol teams found the shells in a remote hill area, some two kilometres off the Myanmar border.

“This type of high transitory weapons might be used by the Myanmar Army or the separatist group [Arakan Army] of Myanmar.”

The shells were kept at the Bulu Para BGB camp. An expert team from the Bangladesh Army team was expected to visit the camp on Saturday to dispose of the weapons, he said.

The sector commander also said the situation on the border was under control and that they were investigating the matter seriously.

On Wednesday night, six mortar shells were fired targeting the BGB camp from Myanmar border.

In retaliation, the BGB fired two mortar shells.

The attackers could not be traced as the incident happened at night, the sector commander said earlier.

Tension has been prevailing on the border since the incident.

Additional BGB members were deployed and patrol on the border was intensified, said Col Habibur.