Cox’s Bazar Correspondent:

Loud explosions were heard from across the Myanmar border in Teknaf, Cox’s Bazar on Thursday (June 13) night. The situation there has been calm since Friday (June 14) morning. However, a Myanmar warship was stationed at the same place in the Naf River from Friday morning to afternoon.

Border residents said that “mortar shells and grenade explosions could be heard intermittently” from 7:00 pm to 3:00 am on Thursday from Myanmar’s Rakhine State. In this, Teknaf’s Shapuree Island and the border area of St. Martin were shaken. However, the situation there has been calm since Friday morning. There were no further sounds of explosions until 1:30 pm. However, a Myanmar warship was seen stationed in the Naf River. The ship was spotted there around 4 pm on Friday.

Mohammad Amin, a businessman of Shapuree Island’s Mistripara in Teknaf, said that the night is spent in “fear” due to the sound of explosions and gunshots. The smoke was also seen billowing from the fire in some parts of Myanmar. “Explosions often create vibrations, can’t even sleep on it,” he added.

Teknaf Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Adnan Chowdhury said that the shelling inside Myanmar is “their own affair”. However, travel to St. Martin on this waterway has been “closed for the time being” due to the presence of a large warship on the Myanmar side of the Naf River. Service trawlers are plying alternate routes to St. Martin.

Abdus Salam, a member of Sabrang Union Parishad, said that the sound of explosions started last Wednesday night.

A large ship was spotted near Myanmar, opposite Maulvipara in Teknaf Sadar Union on the Naf River, on Wednesday afternoon. Loud explosions were heard from 9 pm that night.

After Thursday morning, the ship moved south and anchored at Naf River in Teknaf and Naikhongdia Point in the Bay of Bengal. It’s still there. Intermittent gunfire and mortar shells could be heard from the ship on the land in Myanmar.

After the firing incident from Myanmar, the Teknaf-St. Martin’s route was closed due to panic. After being closed for seven days, the boats and trawlers started plying on alternative routes on Thursday.

The Arakan Army, a pro-independence armed group, has been fighting with Myanmar’s junta forces for three and a half months. The Arakan Army recently captured 14 border outposts of the Border Guard Police (BGP), several police stations, and police outposts in Rachidong-Buchidong Township, including two towns in the north and southwest of Maungdaw. Now they are fighting for the possession of Maungdaw town.